


Drawing Out Poison

by AriesOnMars



Series: How to Train Your Berserker [2]
Category: Dragons: Riders of Berk (Cartoon)
Genre: Blood, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Death, Post Season 2, Pre-Slash, Slow Build, mentions of drug use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-04 21:19:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 26,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1793530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriesOnMars/pseuds/AriesOnMars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After arriving back on Berk Hiccup is trying to get information on the Skrill from Dagur, but it slowly becomes apparent that Dagur isn't healing. He's getting worse. If he could be taken to the Berserker shaman that accompanied the new chieftain to Berk then she could heal him--but the risk she'll kill Dagur on sight under orders of the current chief instead of healing him is too great. </p><p>Even when that new chief and the shaman are Dagur's own family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Is this even necessary?"

 

Hiccup glanced up at Dagur from where here was sitting on the ground with the Book of Dragons. With a shrug he looked back down to the pages, "Pretty much, yeah."

 

It had been a week before Dagur's fever had finally broken and he was able to start really getting better. Hiccup had started going to the hut more often to check on him and to see if the older boy would be willing to tell him about the Skrill early on, but it never came around to that. All Dagur had ever told him was how bad Gothi's medicines tasted and that he was going crazy laying in bed. The little pack of Terrible Terrors the shaman had brought with her when she tended to Dagur seemed to have lost interest in him once he didn't have his fever anymore, but considering the berserker had really been going stir-crazy as he was slowly getting his strength back it was probably better that the little dragons didn't try to cuddle up against him. After enough whining and threatening and snarling Dagur was finally let up out of the bed and allowed to move some. ...Well, it hadn't been the acting out that convinced Hiccup. He had gotten pretty good at ignoring that stuff while he was babysitting Dagur in bed. It was that Dagur had finally settled down and asked to go outside. He didn't do it _politely_ , but Hiccup felt like any behavior resembling human should have been rewarded.

 

Convincing his dad was another matter. Stiock made it perfectly clear that he didn't want Dagur alive and on the island, and he certainly didn't want his son anywhere near the berserker. Dagur had done enough damage, and he had enjoyed doing it. But Hiccup was willing to take responsibility for him and he wasn't trying to say Dagur was harmless. He compared the crazed teen to Thornado, the way they had to muzzle him and keep him safely in the academy while they had been trying to tame him. The Thunderdrum had always been dangerous, but they were able to minimize the worst of it and make him manageable. So that's what they were doing to Dagur now. Hiccup wasn't alone with him unless the older boy was restrained, and when he was restrained Hiccup still stayed out of his reach. Gobber had fixed a chain to the wall in the academy just for that, with a shackle on the end of it that was latched onto Dagur's good hand. His broken arm was left free, but he had already been told that if he tried to use it early on before the bone healed he'd probably cripple himself. The threat of being weakened compared to how he usually was seemed to be enough of a deterrent, and Dagur seemed to move the braced and slung arm as little as possible if he could manage it.

 

"You should be thankful," Hiccup said as he turned the pages in the Book. There wasn't enough space in there under the Skrill's entry to add more, but he had brought parchment so he could write everything down and just tuck it in. "They wanted to chain both of your hands. I said they only needed to worry about the one."

 

"That's so _nice_ of you." Hiccup didn't need to look back at him, he could hear the sneer in Dagur's voice. There was a pause, and then a low and drawn-out chuckle. "It's a lie too. You know it is."

 

Hiccup paused in his rummaging with the papers, not sure what to say. It was only sort of true, he had seen Dagur use his broken arm once but he hadn't really been able to attack with it, and he had hurt himself worse for trying. But he didn't want to tell anyone about that because that meant explaining that Dagur had tried to save him once. Hiccup wasn't even sure what _he_ thought about Dagur saving him, he didn't want to have to deal with what other people thought of it.

 

"What's a lie?" Hiccup jerked and twisted to look at the entrance at that. It was Snotlout, but that was almost worse. If anyone was going to make fun of Hiccup for being saved by Dagur it was Snotlout. Hiccup looked up at the chained berserker and almost gave up hope, Dagur was giving him his crooked grin and he was sure the redhead was going to tell him everything, that Hiccup needed to be protected by his worst enemy from a _dragon_ of all things, and--

 

"That Skrill can't use their lightning in the water," Dagur said as he turned to look at the newcomer. Hiccup just stared at Dagur, even when Fishlegs scoffed as he came up beside Snotlout.

 

"Of course they can't. The Book of Dragons clearly states that Skrill can't redirect lightning in the water," Fishlegs said with that air of superior intelligence he displayed when almost anything involving knowledge on dragons was brought up. Fishlegs had been in agreement with Snotlout for once when it came to Dagur, they both said they didn't need his help. Snotlout claimed it was because the Skrill was gone and that meant anything Dagur gave them was useless, whereas Fishlegs said that anything Dagur might have been able to tell them they could figure out themselves easily. The twins had been the only ones who wanted Dagur there, and Hiccup was fairly sure that was because Tuff had managed to get into the berserker's good graces while he was spying on the Outcasts and because Ruff wanted to see how much destruction the older boy could cause. Astrid hadn't really voted one way or the other, she just said she trusted Hiccup. That was a comfort, at least someone did.

 

"If your book knew everything I wouldn't be here," Dagur sneered at the large boy and it made Fishlegs lose his confidence and shrink back behind Snotlout. "Besides, I didn't say it could redirect the lightning, I just said it could still use it. The Skrill can store the lightning inside of its body, and when it's hunting underwater it can shock anything it bites."

 

Hiccup finally relaxed. He wasn't sure why, but Dagur was covering for him and he was going to take the easy out. He wrote down the notes on the blank paper and tried to pretend he was doing that before Snotlout and Fishlegs had shown up.

 

"How long can it stay underwater?" Hiccup asked. Yeah, that sounded normal, like he'd been doing it for an hour or so. Great.

 

"As long as it wants to. The Skrill has gills and can use them, it can stay in the water like a fish, or stay on land, or go flying."

 

"Yeah, I saw the gills before," Hiccup said as he started a rough sketch of the Skrill's head and neck to illustrate them. At least he thought it looked right, he didn't really have the dragon committed to memory the way Dagur did. He got up and moved closer, just outside of Dagur's reach, and held the papers up. "They look like these?"

 

Dagur came closer to look at the drawing and Hiccup managed to keep from pulling back while there were other people there to see.

 

"Sort of. They're longer, and you're missing one," Dagur said. He didn't pull back right away, he stayed where he was standing at the end of his chain and looked at Hiccup. The smaller viking had the impression of when they once fought dragons and he'd been cornered by one, that moment when he could see if the creature was deciding if it was worth it to kill him. Dagur pulled back, though, and walked back to where the chain was hammered into the wall to play with the iron. "I'm done."

 

"You're what?" Hiccup frowned and walked a few steps away from Dagur, looking back to the paper so he could make the little changes to his sketch.

 

"I'm done," Dagur said, stronger than before. "That's all you're getting today about the Skrill."

 

"You can't do that!" Snotlout yelled. He was already upset that his vote had been ignored and the berserker was here anyway, he was just looking for an excuse to fight.

 

"Why not?" Dagur grinned at him, too sharp and too toothy. "That's the only thing keeping me alive, right? What I know and that you need it. I told you enough for today, it's more than you knew before."

 

Snotlout and Fishlegs both looked at Hiccup and they both wanted the same thing. For Hiccup to say it wasn't fair, for him to force Dagur to just tell them everything right away. The problem was that Dagur was right, if he told them everything he wouldn't be useful anymore. And Dagur was stubborn; if he was forced to do something he'd probably do the opposite just to spite everyone. Hiccup shook his head and put the piece of parchment he used to blot ink over the illustration and notes before he handed it all to Fishlegs.

 

"No, it's fine. We'll get it all eventually, and besides, look at him. Obviously he needs rest," Hiccup glanced back at Dagur and was met with a glare, but that was good. He could keep bringing up that Dagur was injured and weak and Dagur could hate him for it while Hiccup got all the information he needed about Skrill and then things would end.

 

"Come on, let's get him back to the hut," Hiccup looked at Snotlout when he said it. The black-haired boy was looking for a fight and Fishlegs was already scared of Dagur. It was just easier to send Fishlegs off to take care of the book and take the one person who wanted to punch Dagur with him.

 

"I don't want to go back," Dagur said. He didn't sound angry, just that he thought he had some say in the matter.

 

"Like we care what you want!" Snotlout spat at him. Hiccup wondered for a moment if he had actually made the right choice.

 

"I want to walk around. Not in the village, I don't want to go there. I want to go into the woods."

 

Hiccup looked back to Dagur. There were dozens of reasons not to let him do that. He could have wanted to study the land around Berk so he'd be better prepared to fight on it. He could have wanted to stir some wild dragon to attack Berk. He could have wanted to run away.

 

"Alright," Hiccup said. Dagur could have wanted to do any number of horrible things, but the prospect of getting away from Berk for a little while was a nice one to Hiccup.

 

"Oh come on, you can't be serious!" Snotlout yelled at him.

 

"Gothi tries to get Dagur to walk around the cabin when she's there, I don't think lying in bed all day is good for healing," Hiccup said. At least that sort of sounded like a good excuse. "Besides, it's not like we have anything else to do today."

 

Snotlout glared at him and Fishlegs moved to start walking back to the door so he wouldn't get dragged into the hike that was most likely going to end horribly. Neither boy actually fought against him when Hiccup went to unlock the shackle on Dagur's wrist and started leading him out of the arena, though.


	2. Chapter 2

The walk so far had been fairly... pleasant, weirdly enough. Dagur wasn't able to walk fast and kept needing to rest now and then. It made Snotlout angrier every time the stronger boy sat down on a rock or a broken tree trunk, but Hiccup just kept telling him to calm down. That was probably making him angrier too, but Hiccup didn't really care. Hiccup still had the urge to reach out and touch Dagur's forehead, which felt even more awkward knowing that someone was there and could see it this time. Dagur's broken arm was the most obvious problem with him but it wasn't the only one. There was some sickness still lingering in the berserker that hadn't left when the fever had, he was still weak and tired. Hiccup didn't think it was something Gothi was stirring into the pot when she boiled the tea that helped ease Dagur's pain and made him sleep. It was something else, but what that something was he wasn't sure.

 

It was an awkward moment when Hiccup realized he was hoping Dagur would get better. He was probably the only one on Berk... no, probably the only one in the world that wanted Dagur healthy again. And he was the last one who ever should.

 

Dagur started to push himself up from where he was sitting and when he started to lean too much to one side Hiccup reached out to get both of his hands under Dagur's good arm and help haul him up. He hadn't thought about it, he had just done it--but he felt slightly better that Dagur was leaning on him too. That was probably the same thing, Dagur hadn't meant to, it just happened.

 

"If you baby him he's never going to heal, you know." Snotlout interrupted Hiccup's thoughts, and as grateful as he was to not have to think about how close Dagur was to him Hiccup still frowned at him.

 

"He never shuts up, does he?" Dagur said it low and Hiccup had to force himself not to smile just a little.

 

"Not even if his life depended on it."

 

"I should test that someday," the berserker laughed and Hiccup didn't have to force himself not to smile anymore. Right. That's what was normal for Dagur. Hurting people, killing people. Not this. He didn't need help, and he especially didn't need Hiccup's.

 

"That's it! I'm seeing how close we are to his stupid hut, I tired of being trapped out here with you two," Snotlout snarled and started stalking off the path in some random direction. Hiccup wasn't even sure where the other viking was going and he doubted Snotlout knew either. The noise he was making was ridiculous, he was snapping twigs under his boots and smacking at branches to get them out of his way, but eventually it started to die down to a rustle.

 

"I thought he'd never leave," Dagur growled it low, and Hiccup realized with horror that now he was alone with Dagur in the middle of the woods. Was that what he had been planning all along? Wait to get him alone and then kill him? Hiccup didn't even have Toothless with him, they had decided that until people could be around Dagur safely that it wasn't worth it to risk having him hurt their dragons. They had gone out hiking right after they left, Hiccup hadn't even stopped to think, he had been so stupid, he was--

 

"Stop it," Dagur said it firmly and the only reason Hiccup didn’t jump a foot in the air was because the bigger boy’s weight on him was keeping him down. He looked up at Dagur where the berserker was leaning on him for balance, not sure what he was supposed to stop. Breathing?

 

"You're tense. Whatever you're thinking about, stop it," Dagur said it a little softer that time and shifted his arm around Hiccup a bit more comfortably. He started walking along the path again and Hiccup just went with him, not even bothering to tell Dagur they should wait for Snotlout to get back.

 

"You can probably guess what I'm thinking about," Hiccup squeaked and he winced at how scared he already sounded.

 

"Well it is just you and me, all alone," Dagur grinned at him and Hiccup froze in place. The sudden loss of his crutch moving meant Dagur stumbled and tripped on his own feet, and he clung to Hiccup and swore as he started trying to stand normally again.

 

"I'm not going to hurt you," the berserker growled when he was finally standing up again. His voice sounded tight and strained, he had jarred his arm when he stumbled. "If I hurt you I'll be killed and I don't want to die."

 

"I don't either," Hiccup said it a little more normally this time and he relaxed some. Dagur didn't sound like he was getting ready to attack, and Hiccup had heard him like that often enough to recognize it by now.

 

"Then we want the same thing. Think of it as a treaty," Dagur offered and he started to walk again.

 

"You mean like the one you didn't sign?"

 

That got Hiccup a growl but Dagur didn't do anything else that was actually threatening. Acting the part was all he could really do, and even if Hiccup knew Dagur was pretty much harmless like this he couldn't help but react when he'd huff and snarl and threaten. The more Dagur bluffed, though, the less it was starting to work. Eventually everyone was going to realize all the crazed boy could do was bark and growl.

 

"No," Dagur finally said, and Hiccup looked at him again instead of watching the path to make sure their footing was sure. "It's not like the one I didn't sign. My father wrote that one up, I was just expected to sign it and still go by his rules. This one I'm making."

 

"So what are your rules?" Hiccup asked. He was fairly sure he was going to disagree no matter what, but he might as well pretend to listen for a bit. Besides, they were almost as Dagur's hut, he could see where the forest started to end at the edge of the farmland, and it was probably a good idea to let the crazed jerk entertain himself until they got there.

 

Dagur thought for a moment, "Stop chaining me up."

 

"Yeah, no, I'm not doing that. That wasn't even my decision, it was my dad's," Hiccup said. That earned him a growl but the smaller boy just shrugged to get Dagur's weight on his shoulders a little easier.

 

"Fine, then stop bringing me into the arena to do it. Chain me to a tree somewhere around here," Dagur nodded toward one of the trees near the edge of the clearing. Hiccup thought about it for a moment and then sighed.

 

"Alright, I can do that."

 

"And just you."

 

"What?" Hiccup paused at that, and this time Dagur stopped with him instead of falling over. "I can't do that. That's another one of my dad's rules, nobody's alone with you. It's so nobody kills you just as much as to stop you from hurting anyone."

 

"You're not going to hurt me," Dagur said it with so much conviction that Hiccup kind of wanted to punch him right then just to prove him wrong. "Someone can come up when you need to chain me, and they can be there when you have to let me go, but when I'm telling you about the Skrill I'm just telling _you_. Nobody else."

 

Hiccup looked down to the ground again as he started walking. It... was actually pretty much the best thing for the situation, weirdly enough. Nobody wanted to be around Dagur, nobody wanted him to come into the village proper, even the other academy kids didn't really want to be around him. Hiccup squirmed and wriggled out from under Dagur's arm when they came out of the woods, and he was glad he did when he saw Astrid waiting at the hut. She looked like she was talking to Gothi, the shaman might have sent her off for whatever ingredients for medicine she had been using on Dagur, but since Stormfly and Toothless were there Astrid was obviously waiting for Hiccup. It looked like nobody trusted Dagur to walk in the woods with Hiccup without trying something.

 

"Why me?" Hiccup was going to agree to the terms so far, but Dagur didn't need to know that. It might work better if he thought he had to bargain for it.

 

"Because you're the one I made the deal with," Dagur grinned sharply at him, but Hiccup just rolled his eyes. As they came closer Astrid looked up at them, and Dagur muttered low so just Hiccup would hear, "You didn't leave me behind."

 

Hiccup didn't say anything to that. He just handed Dagur off to Gothi who held up a steaming bowl filled with what looked like mud and smelled like something much worse to the older boy. Dagur sneered at it, it was probably more medicine that tasted awful, but he took it and drank it before he finished the trek to go into the hut. Hiccup didn't even say anything to Astrid when she asked if he was alright, he just gave her a small smile and a nod as he climbed onto Toothless.

 

He was still trying to figure out what Dagur meant. If the berserker meant he felt like he owed Hiccup because he saved him, or if it was something much weirder. Like if that was Dagur's way of saying he actually _trusted_ Hiccup.


	3. Chapter 3

"There's no way you can do that. You know that, right?" Astrid didn't bother lowering her voice, but Hiccup couldn't be too upset at that. It was supper in the great hall, everyone had their own conversations and almost nobody was paying much mind to the table the kids were all sitting at together. It was a little odd that they were all there together, usually at least one or two of them were eating with their parents on a normal night, but it wasn't odd enough to make anyone take note of it.

 

"It's not like I have to be _alone_ alone, I'll keep Toothless with me during it," Hiccup said to her. "If Dagur tries anything he'll end up blasted."

 

"But then you'll be the only one seeing it!" Ruffnut said it loud enough to make Hiccup sure his dad was going to come over and see what they were talking about.

 

"Can you _please_ talk quieter?" Hiccup hissed at her.

 

"Why?" Tuffnut said--no, he pretty much yelled it. It made Hiccup want to smack the both of them.

 

"What are you talking about?"

 

Hiccup buried his face in his hand with a groan, "Gustav, _please_ go sit with your mom."

 

"No way! The baby's screaming and it's really annoying," the little kid said it loud and shoved his bowl up between Ruffnut and Snotlout, cramming in between the twin and his academy idol. Snotlout rolled his eyes and scruffed the little boy by the back of his vest and put him down on the ground.

 

"Scram, kid. We're talking about important academy business."

 

"I thought we were talking about Dagur," Tuffnut frowned and looked around his sister to Snotlout, then up to her. "We were, weren't we?"

 

"Oh yeah, we totally were," Ruffnut nodded.

 

" _Technically_ , that _is_ academy business since we're getting dragon information out of him at the moment," Fishlegs corrected them.

 

"I say we just beat it out of him!" Snotlout grinned as he punched his fist into his other hand.

 

"That won't work. Dagur is the berserker chief, he knew everything about his tribe, including important military strategies and formations. He’d have to be tough enough that things like that couldn’t be gotten out of him easily. He's probably a lot better at keeping secrets than we are," Astrid said and she fished a chunk of mutton out of her stew. "It's going to take a lot more than turning out the lights to get him to talk."

 

"Oh I planned on it," Snotlout grinned wider at her.

 

Hiccup had just been eating his own stew. He didn't really have anything to add to his friends speculating on how hard they should beat Dagur until he started talking. He didn't really want to beat up Dagur while he was like that. He frowned as he looked at his food, prodding at it again as a thought came to him, "What's Dagur eating, anyway?"

 

"Huh?" Astrid and the rest of the table looked at him. Gustav gave up on trying to sit next to Snotlout and instead had crammed up against Hiccup between him and Fishlegs. Hiccup and Fishlegs both scooted to give the little kid room, and when Hiccup pointed to Gustav's bowl--where it was still between Ruffnut and Snotlout--Fishlegs pushed it closer to the kid.

 

"What is Dagur eating? He doesn't come to the great hall. Is someone bringing him food? Or is Gothi's medicine enough?"

 

Everyone just looked at each other, half expecting someone else to have the answer. The twins just shrugged and Fishlegs looked down guiltily at his second bowl of food. Snotlout laughed, "Maybe if we starve him he'll talk!"

 

"I'm sure he'd being fed," Astrid said. She was probably right, but it still made Hiccup feel awkward to even think about.

 

"Yeah, I know. I was just thinking out loud," Hiccup smiled a little and turned back to his bowl. "Well, since I'm going to be busy with Dagur I guess someone else is going to have to take over dragon lessons for a while. Does anyone have any ideas?"

 

Astrid frowned, she knew Hiccup well enough to know that he had just decided to go ahead and isolate himself with Dagur when he shouldn’t without even considering another option. She thought Hiccup was looking at Dagur like another dragon that needed to be trained, and honestly he kind of was. Thankfully Fishlegs was more than happy to volunteer to take the reins to the academy while Hiccup was otherwise occupied. And Snotlout was more than happy to argue with him. Astrid had her own ideas about what lessons they should be learning and why she was the best one to teach them. The twins didn't want to actually be in charge of the academy, but everyone else wanted it so they started speaking up too. When the whole table was arguing about it Gustav felt compelled to add in his opinion, even if he wasn't actually an active member of the academy yet. In the loud, disorganized mess he had created Hiccup smiled a little and relaxed as he finished off his food. When he got up and left the table nobody even really noticed that he was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Hiccup landed Toothless easily, even with the wrapped pot held against his belly. It wasn't weird to get a serving or two of dinner to bring to someone who was staying in their home for the night, usually because they were sick or hurt or just didn't want to leave, and nobody was going to tell Hiccup he wasn't allowed to bring food to Gothi who had been stuck with Dagur most of her time. Hiccup slid off of his dragon awkwardly and reached to get his satchel up onto his shoulder, two bowls and two spoons in it. He made a poor excuse of just going to eat his second serving up there with Gothi, and he probably wasn't believed, but nobody was going to tell the chief's kid he couldn't have more food if he wanted it.

 

"You probably aren't going to like it in here, bud," Hiccup smiled a little at his friend as he walked into the hut and Toothless started to follow. Even if he was sure Toothless would like it better outside Hiccup didn't try to keep him out of it. "No slab of rock to heat up and lay on."

 

Toothless was still going to look around and decide that for himself, though. Hiccup just let him and he walked over to the fire pit first so he could set the covered pot down on it. Gothi was nearby and looked unsurprised the same as she always did, but Hiccup still felt like he should explain himself.

 

"I thought you might want dinner? I mean, I didn't see you down in the great hall," Hiccup shrugged a little as he started to get the bowls and spoons out of his bag, and felt dumb for this. She was probably fine, and Dagur was probably fine, and he probably just wasted food. The old woman got up from where she had been sitting with one of her Terrors settled in her lap and came over to take a bowl from him with a smile that made Hiccup feel a lot better. Maybe she knew he'd come and was just waiting for it.

 

"Hey, would it be alright if I gave..." Hiccup trailed off, he remembered what Snotlout had said before. If he babied Dagur he'd never get better. But Gothi nodded and gestured towards the bed before she got her share of food and went back to her chair, sitting back down on the fur she draped over it and letting the Terror wiggle back into her lap. Hiccup didn't ask for any more permission, he just got out a bowlful of stew from the pot and carried it over to the bed. It was weirdly still and Dagur looked like he had buried himself in the blankets as far as he could, Hiccup half expected him to not even be there when he reached out to touched the lump.

 

"Hnggh?" the lump shifted and the blanket moved down. Dagur looked up at Hiccup from his spot on the bed, and there was something definitely... _off_ about him. Not dangerous, just strange.

 

"Hey. I brought you dinner?" Hiccup offered and looked around the bed. He set the bowl on a small table set up beside the bed and nearly knocked over a cup that was sitting there. Hiccup picked it up and sniffed at what little liquid was left in it, and he nearly gagged. It was some horrible combination of too bitter and too sweet and even the little sniff made his head swim.

 

"Don' drink it..." Dagur mumbled and he started to sit up with a groan. "Makes your head full of... fluff. Wool. Something."

 

"Yeah, not going to drink your medicine," Hiccup made a face and put the cup back down as far away as he could from the food on the little table. "How are you feeling?"

 

Dagur made a noise that wasn't quite a growl and wasn't quite a gurgle but something in between, and it expressed more than real words could have.

 

"That bad, huh?" Hiccup asked and glanced around again. There wasn't a chair nearby anymore, so he just perched on the edge of the bed carefully. "Are you hungry?"

 

"Sort of..." Dagur reached for the bowl and Hiccup winced a little when the berserker sloshed some of the broth over his hand. It didn't seem to bother him and Hiccup figured the stew had cooled during the trip up there.

 

"So I was thinking about before, the things you wanted me to do?" Hiccup said as Dagur started eating slowly and awkwardly, he obviously wasn't used to using his left hand for eating. It was probably mean to talk to him about it when he was groggy and out of it, either from just being woken up or because of whatever concoction Gothi had made for him before he was put to bed, but Hiccup didn’t want to put it off until tomorrow. "I'll do them, we'll talk here, and just you and me, but I have a few rules of my own."

 

"Yeah?" Dagur wasn't looking at him, he was concentrating on getting the stew from the bowl to his mouth without spilling it everywhere, but he was listening.

 

"You have to do what I say. No matter how weird it sounds, no matter how much you don't want to. No excuses, I tell you to do something and you do it. Same goes for if I tell you not to do something. Got that?"

 

Dagur looked at him and Hiccup couldn't tell if he was considering it or just confused, but after a bit he nodded. "Alright. I'll do it."

 

Hiccup nodded and felt a little better about that. For a while he just let Dagur eat while Hiccup kept trying to think of more things he should add to the rules. "Obviously you can't hurt anyone or any dragons or anything else. And if you want to leave after you're done telling me everything about Skrill just tell me. I'll get you a boat or something and you can go, you don't need to sneak off."

 

That was way more than he should have offered, Hiccup hadn't even told his dad about the changes Dagur wanted just for his questioning. Stoick had been the one to pick the arena figuring that since they were able to contain dragons in there then keeping Dagur contained until he could be dealt with would be easy. Dagur nodded again and Hiccup figured he could just deal with what happened when Dagur said he wanted to leave when the time came for it.

 

"Do you..." Hiccup trailed off, awkward and not sure how to say it at first. He sighed and just forced it out, looking away from Dagur, "What you said before made me wonder, do you trust me?"

 

As soon as the words were out Hiccup felt stupid and he wished he could have taken them back. That feeling only got worse the longer the silence stretched until he felt like he should have just gotten out of the hut and flown away. Where was Toothless anyway? Hiccup needed to find him if he wanted to go and--

 

"Sort of."

 

Hiccup frowned at that, startled out of his thoughts as he looked back to Dagur, "Why?"

 

"I don't know," Dagur said, prodding his stew a little before he put the spoon in the bowl and put the bowl back onto the little table beside him. He had eaten a little more than half of it, but given his size that really wasn't a lot. "I just... you could have left me behind when your friends came. Or worse. But you didn't. So, I just..."

 

Dagur trailed off and looked away, and Hiccup nodded. "Yeah. Well... I can't trust you."

 

Hiccup sort of wished he had something nicer to say than that but there wasn't anything there. He might have been able to add 'yet' but he wasn't sure if he ever could trust Dagur. Even before he was chief the other boy seemed to live just to make him miserable once a year.

 

"I know," Dagur said low. Hiccup wasn't sure if he was sorry about it or just tired. Probably tired.

 

"I'll see you tomorrow," Hiccup got up from the bed and left Dagur there to rest. He had to coax Toothless down from the rafters but neither Dagur nor Gothi tried to stop him when the rider and his dragon left. Hiccup would have to deal with telling his dad about the changes to their already awkward arrangement, but anything would be easier than being around Dagur and trying to talk to him.


	5. Chapter 5

It had actually been a couple of days before Hiccup saw Dagur again. Most of that time was spent arguing with his father and trying to convince him that Hiccup would be... not _safe_ , but close enough to it. He'd have Toothless, and Dagur even agreed to keep being chained, just not in front of everyone. Gobber got the chain off of the wall of the arena for him but Hiccup was going to fix it to a tree himself. It took a while, and he wished he had brought either Astrid or Snotlout for pure brute strength, but he finally drove the curved U of metal into the wood to hold the end of the chain in place on his own and stood back to look at it.

 

"There, that's not too bad. No help from either of you," Hiccup huffed and looked back at his shoulder at the twins. Well, Ruffnut and Tuffnut weren't good for productive help, but he needed them for this part. "Ok, now see if you can yank it back out."

 

"With pleasure!" Ruff grinned as she came over and gripped the metal that was driven right into the tree, putting her boot up on the trunk so she could pull as hard as she was able to. Tuff didn't even really give her a chance to try before he was coming over and pushing her.

 

"How about you let a real viking do that!" he said and moved to take pretty much the exact same position to yank on the chain. It was sort of... well, not even sort of dumb, it was just really dumb. As far as anyone could tell the twins were about the exact same strength and speed, probably because they spent so much time fighting each other and running away from things they ruined together. There wasn't a reason for Tuff to think he'd be stronger. He was just slightly less inclined to throw the first punch in an argument, as Ruffnut displayed when she punched her brother in the side.

 

"So are you going to go _get_ a real viking, then?"

 

Hiccup rubbed his hand over his face when it was obvious the twins had now decided it was time to try to beat up on each other than to try to do their one simple task. "Why don't you try pulling on it _together?_ "

 

There was a pause and Hiccup took his hand off of his face, looking at the twins just staring at him, before they looked at each other and shrugged. They both grabbed the chain and pulled on it, boots digging into the dirt as they strained. Tuff put one boot up on the tree and so did his sister, and after a while Hiccup smiled. "Alright, it looks like it's really stuck. Great."

 

"This is stupid," Ruff huffed and let go of the chain--and fell onto her back since she had been putting so much weight into trying to yank it out. Her brother laughed and Ruff yelled, "Barf!"

 

Hiccup looked at the Zippleback and hurried over when Barf had started spewing gas near the tree once the twins had left the general area. "No no no, we're not blowing it up! Stuck is good, remember?"

 

"But you said you wanted it _out_ ," Tuff crossed his arms and Belch moved to look over his rider's helmet at the green gas and at Hiccup who was trying to wave it away while not breathing any in.

 

"I just wanted you to try to pull it out! If you can't get it out then Dagur can't get it out."

 

"Then why don't you ask Dagur to try to yank it out?" Ruff asked. She had reached up to pull Barf's head down by his long, spindly neck and hold him. Gas was still leaking out between the dragon's long, thin teeth but it had been a long while since Ruff really been affected by the gas. At least Hiccup couldn't tell if it affected her anymore, the twins had always been... well, the twins.

 

"Really? You don't see how that might be a bad idea? At least a little?" Hiccup gave up on waving away the gas and walked out of the green cloud with his nose and mouth buried in his shirt sleeve. He could already feel the hazy weight on his head from it. It was like something fat and furry and heavy was just sitting on his brain.

 

"Not really," Tuff answered, and then he grinned. "Has Dagur been breaking stuff?"

 

"I don't know, maybe?" Hiccup said. "I haven't been around him that much."

 

"Maybe we can let him loose in the woods and see what happens!" Ruff grinned wide.

 

" _No._ Gods no. I don't even know why you would want to do that," Hiccup sighed. "Just, come back in an hour?"

 

"Why?" Tuff asked, and he seemed to just be saying it to bug Hiccup not because he actually cared why.

 

"Because Dagur doesn't want company," Hiccup tried to urge the other boy up onto the dragon's neck. "Go on, just... blow something up for an hour and come back."

 

"So we have permission to blow stuff up?" Tuff was much more inclined to get up onto Belch's neck at that, and the twins shared a mischievous grin.

 

"Not really, no. But I already know you're going to do it, there's not a point in pretending you're not." The twins were already both in their saddles when Hiccup said it and he raised his hands up like he was trying to shoo away the Zippleback. "Sky!"

 

If nothing else the dragon listened and that was nice. Barf and Belch started flying and were up in the air, with Ruff yelling down at Hiccup, "You don't tell our dragon what to do!"

 

Hiccup waited until the twins were out of earshot before grumbling, "Pretty sure I already did."

 

As much of a headache as the twins could be they had actually been the easy part of this. Hiccup was supposed to have them wait until Dagur was chained up and Hiccup was safe, but he didn't really want to try to get the twin's attention off of a guy that could do the massive amount of mayhem that was in their wildest dreams. It was bad enough when Snotlout liked the guy. Besides, Hiccup had Toothless, the dragon was settled nearby on the ground he had just scorched and he had a clear shot of everything. The hut, the tree, and Dagur wouldn't be able to hide on the flat farmland on the walk over here. Hiccup went to fetch Dagur, which included waking Dagur up even though it was nearly noon. It wasn't that bad, it meant the berserker was groggy and easy to lead to the tree. Dagur only seemed to wake up fully when Hiccup latched the shackle onto his wrist.

 

"What..." Dagur glared down at the iron, then at Hiccup. "So you weren't kidding about still chaining me up."

 

"Nope. You have enough ease to sit down, though."

 

Dagur did just that, sitting down onto the ground and leaning against the trunk of the tree, before he cringed and coughed, "What is _that?!_ "

 

"Oh. Uh, Zippleback gas. It might still be lingering. Toothless?" Hiccup looked over at his dragon who had perked up at his name. The dragon rider held his hand out, fingers flared and the back of his hand to Toothless. The Night Fury obeyed and flared his wing, holding them up and bringing them down fast when Hiccup moved his hand down quickly. The wind from it blew past them and Hiccup looked down at Dagur. "That better?"

 

"Sort of," Dagur brushed himself off where a few stray pieces of grass and leaves had flown onto him.

 

Hiccup looked back to Toothless with a smile, "Thanks, bud"

 

The Night Fury made a little sound and settled back in on his warm spot, head down but eyes still open and on them.

 

"So," Hiccup said and looked to Dagur, "Let's start with the Skrill's full diet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who's read Drawing Out Poison so far, and everyone who's read Stranded on the Sealand before it. Thank you so much for every kudo and every comment. I never know what to say and thank you never seems like enough, but I want you to know I really appreciate all of it.


	6. Chapter 6

"It's diet? That's all you want to know?"

 

"Not in the slightest, but it's a good start. I know it eats sheep, does it only go after animals on the land?" Hiccup said and grabbed up his paper and charcoal before he sat down, where was assumed was outside of Dagur's range. He didn't want to risk bringing the whole book, and he could just copy his notes later.

 

"It eats anything and everything," Dagur said, the ghost of a smile on his face.

 

"Even eels?"

 

Dagur paused and looked down at that as he thought about the question, "Not eels."

 

"Then that's not really 'everything' is it?"

 

"Alright, fine, it eats sheep and yak and chicken when it can get it's claws on it. It eats fish all the time. If it finds a dead bear or wolf it'll eat that. Stories used to say that it'd eat dead people too, if you let it."

 

Hiccup had been writing down the list up until the last part. He frowned and looked up at Dagur, "It'll eat _people_?"

 

"Sometimes." Dagur seemed to like that Hiccup was reacting the way he was, the berserker grinned at him and Hiccup shuddered. "Haven't you ever eaten a dragon?"

 

"No!" Hiccup yelled it and Toothless rose his head up, fins perked up and listening. It was just because he was seeing if Hiccup needed his help, but Hiccup still felt ashamed because of what he had just been asked. "Nobody eats dragon."

 

"I did a couple of times," Dagur said.

 

"That's disgusting," Hiccup glared at him, "Why did you do that?"

 

"It was the only thing I had to eat."

 

Hiccup frowned at that and looked back to his notes. There was no way he was writing any of this down. But... Dagur did say nothing grew on his island, that food was scarce. If that was all he had...

 

"What did it taste like?" Hiccup asked quietly like he was worried Toothless might hear him.

 

" _Bad_. Really bad. Most things that eat meat taste awful."

 

Hiccup nodded at that, and yeah, not writing it down. Ever. There wasn't a reason to. But that made Hiccup think he was right, if it tasted awful and it was hard to hunt down Dagur probably only ate it because his other option was to starve. That was somewhat comforting, although still really gross.

 

"Anything else?" Dagur asked.

 

"Yeah. Uh..." Hiccup ruffled through his papers and frowned. He really should have written down what he wanted to ask, it would have made this easier. He glanced back up to Dagur and shifted uncomfortably, and it was only because he knew he wanted to ask _something_ that he blurted out, "Why are you still sick?"

 

Dagur tensed at that and glared at Hiccup, "I'm not, I'm fine."

 

"No, you're not," Hiccup said and scooted a little closer. He was probably in Dagur's range now, but it was worth it to try to find this out. "You still look pale, and you're breathing funny, but it's not like a normal illness. You're not coughing or sneezing or trying to lay in bed. You're just... you look awful."

 

"Shut up," Dagur shifted and looked away from him. Hiccup closed the space between them carefully, tensed up in case he had to scramble away from Dagur.

 

"Look at me," Hiccup managed to sound a little more authoritative than he felt.

 

"Why?" Dagur looked back at him just to glare, and Hiccup leaned forward to put his hand on the bigger boy's forehead. Dagur froze and Hiccup was nearly trembling with how ready he was to just bolt away from the berserker.

 

"You still have a fever," Hiccup said carefully, trying to hide the little waver in his voice. Dagur shifted and shook his head to get Hiccup's hand off of him and he looked away again. Hiccup pulled his hand back but he was hesitant about moving away just yet. Dagur wasn't a dragon, but he was still curious, and Hiccup had never been good at hurting something that was already in pain.

 

"What is it?" Hiccup asked and he watched Dagur, who was pointedly staring at a rock on the other side of the farm. They were both quiet for a bit, Hiccup waiting for Dagur to say something and Dagur waiting for Hiccup to go away. When neither happened Hiccup sighed, "Just tell me, alright? Maybe I can help. If Gothi's still giving you medicine it isn't working, but if she knows what it is then maybe..."

 

Dagur hadn't relaxed but he looked from the rock to his lap, then glanced at Hiccup. For a moment it looked like Dagur might have given in and told Hiccup about it, he had started looking back to the smaller boy and he'd sighed the way Hiccup's dad often did when he had to admit to something he didn't want to. Whatever Dagur was going to say was lost when a Nadder screeched above them.

 

"Hiccup!" Astrid called down to him and they both looked up at her. Hiccup got up and backed away from Dagur, going toward Toothless to greet Astrid when she landed.

 

"What is it?"

 

"There are boats coming, we need you in case something happens," she said, and then looked up to glare at Dagur like it was somehow the chained boy's fault.

 

"What kind of boats?" Hiccup looked back at Dagur with Astrid, then up to her again. Astrid took a little longer to glare at Dagur, her blue eyes narrow and everything tensed like she was trying to decide if she wanted to dismount and try to beat him to a pulp. Eventually she looked back down to Hiccup instead.

 

"Berserker."


	7. Chapter 7

"What do you think they want?" Astrid called after Hiccup as Stormfly followed Toothless in the sky.

 

"I don't know," Hiccup said it more to himself than to her as he scanned the ocean. It was only one boat, not the fleet he'd gotten used to Dagur dragging around after him. The Skrill symbol was dark and huge against the sail and there wasn't anyone in the archipelago stupid enough to try to steal the Berserker symbol. He really didn't know what they'd want. Even if Dagur lied and his family and tribe did want him home they wouldn't know for sure he was on Berk. The flight was short after Hiccup looked for himself at the oncoming ship, and they flew lower to the ground until they landed in the village proper to avoid being targets to potentially hostile visitors. By the look of it Hiccup was the last dragon rider that had been collected, although that might have just been that he was the one farthest away.

 

"I say we meet them head-on, blast them right out of the water!" Snotlout yelled, and as a testament to how bad of an idea that was the twins both voiced their approval.

 

"Thankfully we don't listen to what you say," Hiccup said as he hopped off of Toothless' back, patting the Night Fury as he walked.

 

"We don't even know why they're here yet," Fishlegs added.

 

"We don't need to know, they started a war and we're going to finish it!" Snotlout said, and again the chorus from Ruff and Tuff meant that was probably the last thing they should do. Hiccup just shook his head and left them to argue--at least Astrid was taking up his place in telling Snotlout his idea was stupid and they weren't going to do it.

 

"What do you think, dad?" Hiccup came up beside his father, and even with his dad on one side of him and Toothless on the other Hiccup didn't feel particularly safe as he looked at the incoming ship.

 

"I'm not sure," Stoick watched the boat a while longer before he looked down to Hiccup. "It may just be the new chief coming to reinstate the treaty."

 

"Aye. Likely not an attack with just one ship," Gobber was on Stoick's other side, nearly blocked by the chief's great bulk. Not entirely, though.

 

"Are you going to make a treaty again?" Hiccup reached to rub over Toothless' head, leaning against the Night Fury and nearly wishing he was more like... pretty much any other kid on Berk, honestly. Any other kid would be told to go away and stop interrupting the chief and his duties. Any other kid on Berk wouldn't one day inherit those duties.

 

Stoick was quiet for longer than Hiccup would have liked, and he started walking down to the dock before he finally spoke, "Do you really think Dagur was telling the truth when he said he wasn't wanted by his tribe anymore?"

 

"I think so," Hiccup said as he followed his father. "He wasn't trying to convince me of it, he didn't even want to say it. Besides, even if they did want him, how would they know for sure he was here?"

 

"Even so, don't tell them that we have him."

 

"Yeah, because that worked out so well when we tried to hide the dragons," Hiccup mumbled it and glanced at his father, then winced at the look he was getting from him.

 

"The dragons were bad enough, but if they know we're keeping Dagur here and he could be telling us about their island and weaknesses it could be worse. More so if they have a more competent chief leading them now," Stoick said firmly and Hiccup just nodded.

 

"Should I do something about Dagur?" Hiccup asked after a while. They were nearly at the docks and the boat wasn't more than a half hour away now. He and Astrid had just left the older boy still shackled to the tree, she had figured it would be easier to have him already chained somewhere than to risk him running off or toward the ship.

 

"Not yet. We'll see what they want first."

 

Hiccup nodded again and moved to get up onto Toothless’ saddle when they were on the dock. He felt better there, and if they did attack he'd be able to retaliate faster.


	8. Chapter 8

It was the usual fanfare that came with the Berserker ships docking, but the herald seemed somewhat subdued this time compared to every other time Hiccup had heard the High Chief's introduction. It might have been the Night Fury growling at him, or the fact he wasn't announcing the visit to a tribe that was beneath them in power--or at least pretending to be--or that he now had to go from Oswald the Agreeable to Dagur the Deranged to Bola the Bone Breaker. Swapping names like that probably wasn't easy, and it sounded like her intro was close to Dagur's but not quite the same.

 

Hiccup hadn't seen Bola before, between Oswald's apparently four kids he had only ever seen Dagur and his quiet and weird sister, but if Hiccup hadn't known she was Dagur's sister he would have guessed it. She had about the same build and held herself in the same way as him with the same sort of glare when she looked around her, although she seemed less inclined to smile in the crazed way her brother did. She was wearing the same war paint Dagur did before, but instead of three lines down one eye she had two on either cheek, coming up from her jaw and toward her eyes. Choppy and uneven red bangs came out from under her helmet that was adorned with heavy curved ram's horns. The armor on her shoulders was closer to her body than Dagur's had been and instead of one arm guard built for blocking attacks she had two bracers. If Hiccup had to guess Dagur was stronger than her by just enough to subdue her but she was probably faster. Her belt was different from Dagur's but she was wearing the symbol of the Berserker tribe on her hip, the Skrill in beaten yellow metal.

 

"You were not invited to our shores," Stoick said. Bola regarded him with the same glare she gave everything else and Hiccup wondered if that was just how she always looked.

 

"Given recent events I thought it would be in everyone's favor to discuss a new treaty," Bola elbowed away the soldier closest to the ramp that had been put down and started onto it to step onto Berk. She didn't sound much like Dagur when she spoke, and that was sort of weird given how close to her brother she looked and acted.

 

"You really think we're going to want to go back to that?" Gobber asked. If he thought Bola was any brighter than her brother he didn't sound like it when he spoke to her. She sneered at him, teeth exposed, and then glanced to Toothless before looking back to Stoick.

 

"I think it would be better to write a new treaty with our tribes as equals."

 

"And why would we want that?" Stoick crossed his arms, and he didn't have to hold himself any taller, he already towered over the girl before him, but his stance didn't relax any. She was a threat until proved otherwise, if she was able to take control when Dagur was gone she was most likely close to as strong as he was or was only slightly weaker and more liked by their people. Given the constant glaring and sneering Stoick wasn't willing to assume she was any more pleasant on her own island. "Your brother made it perfectly clear that--"

 

"My brother was an idiot!" she snapped at the other chief. It was loud and sudden enough that even Stoick paused. Toothless tensed under Hiccup and the dragon rider grabbed the edge of the saddle, ready to react. Bola looked ready to attack.

 

"Is."

 

They all turned toward the sound, back to the boat. It was a person, almost too thin for a berserker, in clothes too big that just made her look thinner. Her sleeves were ripped and stained and burned and patched at random, and her hands and what was visible of her arms were just as scarred as the cloth. She was clinging to a bone nearly taller than she was, a long and thin thing that Hiccup recognized as one of the wing bones of a Monstrous Nightmare, drilled with holes so drying plants and objects of some significance could be tied through it with twine. There were teeth from dragons, and wolves, and humans, all dangling in awkward lengths, and a bundle of plants Hiccup couldn't recognize all bound together. The middle was wrapped with leather for her to grip onto as she walked, and when she started down the ramp after Bola there was an odd limp in her gait. She didn't seem to be injured, she just seemed to be uncoordinated when she walked like she was half asleep. Her hair was black and tied in places with twine to keep it out of her way, and if she just took slightly more care of it she probably could have saved herself the trouble of it being a matted, tangled mess and just worked it into dreads the way Tuffnut did with his.

 

"Go back onto the boat, Nott," Bola said, and although she still sounded angry her voice was a touch softer. It was either affection or pity, Hiccup wasn't sure which. Nott looked to her, then around them both, finally looking at Toothless and then at Hiccup, squinting like she couldn't quite understand why he was there. Her eyes were dazed, but the same bright green Dagur and Bola's were.

 

"He _is_ an idiot," Nott said, her voice was weak and quiet, nothing at all like her older sister and brother's.

 

"You think he's still alive?" Bola sneered again and gave what was probably the closest thing to a smile she could manage.

 

"Yes." Nott was still staring at Hiccup and he had to force himself not to squirm, glancing to his father and trying to beg for help without saying it out loud. Nott gave him the same sort of being-looked-right-though feeling that he got from Gothi sometimes and from his dad all the time when he'd done something wrong.

 

Bola didn't notice his discomfort and snorted, "If he isn't dead yet he will be soon."

 

Nott stared at Hiccup a while longer, then looked away and to her sister again, leaning on her bone staff, "Without help, yes, you're likely right..."

 

"It doesn't matter," Bola looked back up to Stoick, "We're just going to assume Dagur's gone forever. I'm the chief now, and I have business with you. If my idiot brother was any indication you're going to have all sorts of enemies coming out just to try to prove they're stronger than your dragon riders. Wars aren't won without allies."

 

Stoick was quiet for a while, looking over Bola and weighing the offer. She narrowed her eyes and seemed to Hiccup to visibly bristle under the scrutiny, but eventually Stoick uncrossed his arms and waved up the dock in a silent invitation. Bola didn't smile, but her shoulders relaxed and she nodded before stalking up toward Berk. Stoick followed her close behind, and after a moment Nott began to limp after them, seeming to alternate between using her staff to help her walk and just dragging it on the planks beside her.

 

"Well, this is going to be interesting," Gobber muttered to Hiccup as the three left.

 

"Yeah," Hiccup reached to pet over Toothless' head, just trying to help him relax. "What do I do about...?"

 

He didn't want to finish the thought with the berserker soldiers still close in the boat, a few of them starting out to follow their newest chief. Gobber didn't make him, thankfully, "I'd say ye'd better keep it quiet and tucked away."

 

Hiccup nodded. It shouldn't be too hard to keep Dagur quiet and out of the way, he was still mostly bedridden. Although during the flight back all he could think of was what Bola and Nott had been saying, that if Dagur wasn't dead yet he would be soon. Was it just because he was so prone to pick a fight, even when hurt and injured? Hiccup hoped so, but he couldn't shake the feeling that whatever Dagur was still ill with they knew what it was and what it was going to do to him.


	9. Chapter 9

Dagur didn't put up a fight when Hiccup came back and unlocked the shackle, or when Hiccup hauled him up to help him back to the hut. Hiccup probably should have been happy for that, even a weak Dagur was dangerous and the dragon rider wasn't taking all the precautions he should have been, but it just worried him. The more Hiccup was left to his own thoughts the more he was convinced Dagur was just going to suddenly die and the only people who'd know why would be his sisters.

 

"What is it?"

 

Hiccup jumped and shoved Dagur away from him when he spoke, and between him being spooked and Dagur being weak he actually managed to fling him fairly far. At least Dagur ended up on the bed instead of the floor, although by the groan and glare Hiccup was getting from the former berserker he didn't consider it an improvement.

 

"Sorry, I--you scared me," Hiccup said.

 

"I _scared_ you? How?" Dagur growled and shifted, wincing some as he reached up to rub his broken arm above the wrappings. "Did I manage to sneak up on you somehow?"

 

"Shut up," Hiccup glared back and then looked away, toward the door where Toothless was coming in after them. The Night Fury wasn't really happy there, which made sense for a lot of reasons, but he was getting used to it and he seemed to like spending time up on the rafters. Hiccup watched him a little while longer, and then looked to the ground, then back to Dagur. He wanted to ask him something about what might be happening, but if he was supposed to hide Dagur from his sisters he should probably do the same and hide them from him. But Dagur already knew a berserker ship was there...

 

"What is that?" Hiccup said as Dagur picked up a bowl on the table beside his bed. The small space had gotten more cluttered since Hiccup saw it last, covered in bottles and plants, new and dried and one looked like it was turning brown and probably shouldn't be.

 

"I don't know," Dagur shrugged before taking a drink from the bowl and wincing. "Tastes awful, though. And I think there's a lizard in it."

 

"A lizard Gothi put in it or a lizard that crawled into it while you were out?"

 

Dagur stared down at the bowl with a scowl and a vaguely worried look, "I'm not sure."

 

As soon as it was out of him Hiccup knew he shouldn't have, but he laughed at that. It wasn't nice, but he'd been there before. Hiccups tended to get sick more often than the rest of a litter, and unfortunately he was just as much of a hiccup as a scrawny sheep. He looked back to Dagur and coughed a little awkwardly, " I'm uh, not laughing at you. But I've had that happen before, I wasn't a really healthy kid so Gothi gave me a lot of concoctions that I thought were gross. I don't remember any lizards, though. ...There was a whole bird in a pot of broth once."

 

"Were you unhealthy because you're a hiccup?"

 

Hiccup frowned and looked down. "Yeah. Runts aren't really... healthy. Not at first, but I got stronger."

 

It was an uncomfortable silence and Hiccup blamed Dagur for that. He only looked up with the bigger boy spoke again.

 

"They usually die."

 

"Who does?" Hiccup asked.

 

"Runts, hiccups. Kids who aren't strong enough. If they don't die and they're not getting any stronger when they're kids sometimes we sell them as slaves to trading ships," Dagur said. He didn't sound like he was gloating, but he didn't sound upset either. He sounded like he was talking about a normal thing.

 

"Why?"

 

Dagur shrugged again and set the bowl down. "It's just easier for everyone. We don't have a lot of food or medicine, when someone gets too sick they usually don't get better. If the kid is somewhere else and they're useful then whoever their master is might spent the time and effort into getting them better."

 

Hiccup looked up to Toothless again, where the Night Fury was climbing up onto the wooden beams and finding a nice, sturdy spot to settle down. It was horrible but on some small, stupid level it made sense. Hiccup wasn't really sure what his father would have done if there wasn't any way to help him get better whenever he'd get sick as a little kid. He'd really hope he wouldn't send him away, and he wasn't going to do that now, but...

 

"Your sisters are here," Hiccup finally said. It was just easier to deal with that than to hear about how awful Berserker life was.

 

"Figured. Bola was always my replacement," Dagur chuckled as he said it. "If I died she was going to take my place. She even told me so, I still think she was planning to kill me someday to get it."

 

"She already thinks you're dead," Hiccup looked back to Dagur and stepped closer to him. "Nott's thinks you're not, but she said without help you're going to die soon."

 

Dagur frowned and narrowed his eyes at Hiccup, "Did you tell them I'm here?"

 

"No," Hiccup said, and he didn't know why but he added, "Not yet."

 

Dagur tensed at that and then looked to the doorway like he expected someone to be there with an ax. Hiccup couldn't help but glance at the door with him.

 

"I won't tell them you're here," Hiccup offered as he looked back. This... this was good. Maybe. At least if Dagur thought Hiccup was doing him a favor he'd be less likely to run out and make a mess of everything. Right? Dagur looked back to him, still tense, but he nodded.

 

"Are you dying?" Hiccup pressed the issue. There were more important things right then but this was the one he wanted to take care of first. Dagur looked back at him a little while longer before glancing away.

 

"I might be," the bigger boy finally said. He didn't sound upset or sacred, he just sounded sort of angry about it. "If I am it's not going as fast as it should be. Whatever the old woman keeps feeding me, it's working, sort of."

 

"What is it? Is it anything that can be cured?" Hiccup watched as Dagur glared at the wall before moving like he was going to just settle in bed with his back turned to Hiccup. It wasn't that weird, it was how the smaller boy usually left him because most anything left Dagur tired anymore. Hiccup didn't want to just leave him alone now, though, not when Dagur was sick and he _knew_ he was sick and he _knew_ what it was. Hiccup grabbed Dagur's shoulders and hauled him over to look at him, and if Dagur was anywhere close to his old strength Hiccup knew he wouldn't have been able to do that.

 

"Stop it! Stop pretending I'm going away if you ignore me! If you know what it is, tell me! Right now!"

 

Dagur stared up at him, if he was angry about being hauled around then he wasn't showing it yet. He was just confused, "Why?"

 

Hiccup tensed, fingers digging into Dagur's shoulders and not wanting to answer the question. He didn't have an answer to the question, he didn't know why he wanted Dagur better, or why he cared.

 

"Just tell me what it is," Hiccup finally said.

 

Dagur watched him a little while longer, he was probably waiting to see if Hiccup would drop the act, or he wasn't sure if he should tell him anything, but whatever he decided he finally started sitting up again and spoke, "Nott's not like your old woman, she doesn't--"

 

"I don't care about your sister!"

 

"Shut up!" Dagur roared it and Hiccup finally pulled back from him. The former berserker sat up with a wince. "I'm trying to tell you what's wrong. Nott's not like your healer here. She doesn't heal. She doesn't make medicine, at least not to anything she didn't cause."

 

"Your sister caused this?" Hiccup frowned. There was a sound near his elbow and he looked down at Toothless, the Night Fury’s head down and back arched, teeth exposed and bared. When Dagur yelled the dragon had come to protect his rider, and Hiccup reached to rub over Toothless’ head and soothe him. "It's alright, bud. Everything's fine. Dagur's just a loud jerk."

 

Hiccup finally got Toothless to relax some and he looked up to the other boy. Dagur had just waited for Hiccup to finish calming the dragon to continue.

 

"I asked her to," Dagur said and he looked at Hiccup. "She can make a person forget their limits. Everything. That they need to sleep, that they need to eat, that they're in pain. She makes it out of plants and animals, some of them are from our island, but most need to be traded for. I told her to make me something that would make me unstoppable. Something that would make me stronger and faster and focused. Something for war."

 

Hiccup swallowed against the dry feeling in his throat and kept petting over Toothless' head, more to comfort himself than the dragon now, "So why is it killing you now?"

 

"Alvin kept me caged up too long. I couldn't get any more and it felt like my body was just... dying. It hurt so bad. It still does sometimes. It's not going away."

 

"So what are you supposed to do? Just die because you were taking that?" Hiccup asked. He patted Toothless lightly and eased away from the dragon, coming closer to Dagur and taking a deep breath before sitting beside the bigger boy. Dagur tensed and started at him like he was trying to figure out why Hiccup was so close to him now, but Hiccup wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't really sure himself.

 

"Nott could give me something. Something to make my body work without the herbs I was using before, like I'm normal again."

 

"So you need me to get your sister?" Hiccup asked. Dagur watched him and then sighed, shaking his head slowly.

 

"No. If Nott listened to me when I told her to put me into a war rage then she'd listen to Bola if she told her to kill me. If you bring Nott here it might just speed everything up."

 

"...But she's the only one who knows how to fix you, isn't she?" Hiccup watched Dagur and hoped he wouldn't hear what he expected to. But he wasn't ever really lucky before, so why should that change now?

 

"Yes. She is."


	10. Chapter 10

"So we need to get information out of her," Astrid said.

 

Hiccup nodded and looked over to her. He had grabbed the other dragon riders as soon as he could and told them to meet him somewhere out of the village so they wouldn't be overheard. He didn't tell them everything about his talk with Dagur, just the relevant parts, that he was dying and that Nott would know how to fix him, but that they couldn't outright tell her they had Dagur there.

 

"That shouldn't be hard, assuming there's even anything in her head to get out of it. Have you seen her?" Snotlout shrugged. When Hiccup had found him and the twins they were trying to figure out what prank to pull on the berserker shaman, since she had apparently abandoned following after Stoick and Bola and had settled down against a tree to sleep.

 

"I really don't think we should assume she's helpless or stupid just because she's weird," Hiccup said. "You thought Dagur was helpless and he still got your knife out of your boot."

 

Snotlout grumbled and slouched against the tree he was leaning on, glaring off at something away from the group of them.

 

"I hate to be the one to point this out, but should we actually be worried about this?" Fishlegs asked. He seemed to fluster some when everyone--except for Snotlout who was still glaring at a rock--turned to look at him. "I mean, there's only so much Dagur can tell you about the Skrill, and whatever is killing him will take a few days more at least. That should be enough time to get what you need out of him, and then we won't have to worry about what to do with him after."

 

"...He does have a point," Astrid said and she looked to Hiccup. "Dagur hasn't done anything to make you try this hard to help him. If anything you should be the one who wants to get rid of him the most."

 

"I know that, I know. But..." Hiccup shrugged and for a moment it seemed like what he should do. Just get what he needed and get rid of the threat. It sounded easy, but actually putting it into motion...

 

"Wait, so what's killing him again?" Ruffnut said and she broke Hiccup out of the thought.

 

"Do you two ever listen to anything?" Astrid reached up to rub at her forehead and Hiccup just barely kept from copying her.

 

"I was listening, _she's_ the problem!" Tuff called and shoved his sister's shoulder hard. "Why don't _you_ ever listen, huh?"

 

"Then what is it?!" Ruffnut shoved her brother back and they both ended up pushing and hitting each other before Hiccup yelled at both of them.

 

"I don't know exactly what it was!" Hiccup reached up and scuffed his fingers through his hair, frustrated and half wishing he could just hit both of them and it would magically make them act less like themselves. "Dagur just said that Nott could make things out of herbs and animals and that she put him into a rage, whatever that means."

 

"He might not be entirely coherent anymore," Fishlegs offered.

 

"Was it a war rage?" Tuff said, both he and Ruff were looking up from where they had paused in trying to crack each other's heads open by ramming their helmets together.

 

"It... yeah, I think he called it that," Hiccup frowned. "Why?"

 

"I know what that is," Ruff said proudly and grinned at him. Tuffnut tried to take the moment's distraction and headbutt her off balance, and they both went back to their fight.

 

"Wait, how do you know what it is? Ruff, Tuff, stop fighting!" Hiccup must have managed to sound authoritative because both of the twins paused, looked at him, then each other, and stood up straight. Hiccup didn't give them enough time to go back to bickering before he asked again, "How do you know what a war rage is?"

 

"Our dad," Ruffnut said simply. It took Fishlegs to fill in the blanks.

 

"That's right, your father was a berserker, wasn't he?"

 

"Your dad was a berserker soldier?" Astrid gave the two an odd look like she was trying to figure out how that was true.

 

"Pfft, I wish their dad was a soldier. That would be awesome," Snotlout finally stopped sulking long enough to look back to the group. "He was a trader. Right?"

 

"Yeah, he got stuff from other islands and brought it back," Ruffnut said.

 

"I don't think he was a trader if that's all he was doing..." Fishlegs muttered.

 

"But he came to Berk and met our mom and she punched him so hard he was out cold for two days," Tuffnut smacked his fist into his hand as he said it with a laugh, with his sister giggling right along with him. "He told us he asked to marry her as soon as he woke up. Before he even remembered what his name was!"

 

"That's probably the most romantic story I've ever heard," Astrid laughed. She was probably joking. Hiccup hoped she was joking.

 

"Alright, back on track. Your dad knows what this is? Does he know how to fix it?" Hiccup asked.

 

"I don't think so..." Ruffnut frowned and reached up to rub at her chin as she thought.

 

"He told us that rages were how the soldiers kept fighting. That they didn't even notice when they were missing a limb or something like that when they were on it. Only the person who mixed up the drug knew what it was, the gods told them what to put in it, but he was the one that brought back a lot of the plants for it," Tuffnut elaborated, and his sister seemed to stop trying to think since her brother was answering the question.

 

"Did your dad tell you what he brought back?" Hiccup asked. Maybe if they could try collecting the plants Dagur would know enough about what he was taking to mix up the cure, or they could give it to Gothi and she'd figure it out.

 

"Uh..." Tuff frowned and seemed to be trying to remember. Unfortunately it was second-hand knowledge, and not something the twins would have been too interested in. After a minute Hiccup gave up hope and looked to Fishlegs.

 

"This isn't working. The best chance is to actually get the information from Nott. Do you think you could do that?" Hiccup asked.

 

Fishlegs stared at him like he had grown a second head, "Me? Why me? Why do I have to do it? Why not, uhm... why not..."

 

"Because you're the one actually interested in botany," Hiccup said. "You'll know right away if the plants she's talking about are on Berk, or if there's something close like it, and you're the best one to know how to steer the conversation that way."

 

"I'm not saying I'm not the most qualified," Fishlegs tried to make it sound like a humble statement but he failed miserably, "But--"

 

"Sticky oak."

 

Hiccup and Fishlegs both frowned and they looked to Rufnut at the same time. She looked back at them and shrugged.

 

"Sticky oak. It's one of the plants he brought back," she said.

 

"And wolf's tongue," Tuffnut added. He looked to his sister and she nodded in agreement, and the twins both looked back to Hiccup.

 

"So you do remember some of the plants?" Hiccup asked. He had already given up on getting that information out of the twins, but if they really did know then it was worth it to try both angles.

 

"No they don't," Fishlegs scoffed. "Sticky oak and wolf's tongue are both highly poisonous. Ingesting either one would be horribly painful and even deadly."

 

"Uh, yeah," Ruffnut grinned and laughed as she crossed her arms. " _All_ of the plants were poisonous."

 

"That can't be right," Fishlegs frowned.

 

"But... that would make sense, right? If Dagur was eating poison that's why he's dying now," Hiccup asked. He looked around at the group and then toward the village. They could talk about this all day but if they were going to help Dagur they didn't have a long window of opportunity. The treaty signing only lasted a couple of days when Oswald was alive, and Bola didn't seem like she'd be one to visit for a while with his dad afterwards the way her father used to. As soon as they reached an agreement she'd probably be leaving. Maybe Hiccup could convince them to stay to eat supper but that only gave them a day.

 

"Alright, this is what we're doing," Hiccup said and looked to each of the group as he addressed them. "Ruff, Tuff, you two and I are going to go looking for what plants you do remember. Fishlegs, you're going to go talk to Nott. Try to get out of her what plants she uses and what ones are used to cure the berserkers who are dying without it. If she won't tell you anything just keep an eye on her. Astrid, you're going to do the same with Bola. Make sure they don't leave until we're ready to let them go. Snotlout, you're going to stay at Dagur's hut. Stay outside and get him out of there if it looks like Bola, Nott, or any of the soldiers are coming up there and can't be persuaded to leave."

 

Hiccup expected another round of them asking why he wanted to help Dagur or that they didn't want to go to their assigned places. The group just looked at him and nodded, Fishlegs sighed and Snotlout rolled his eyes before it, but they eventually consented to the plan too. They were all going to their dragons to saddle up and start out toward their posts and Hiccup had a moment of hope. They had two plans, and the one with him and the twins was probably going to go badly, but he trusted Fishlegs. If Nott was going to tell anyone about her herbs it would be him.


	11. Chapter 11

The ground was damp and moved easily under Hiccup's fingers as he dug. The twins didn't remember much, a lot of the twins’ searching was just poking around and pointing out plants for Hiccup to try to name until something sounded right. Even so, they still ended up with a few things. Sticky oak and wolf's tongue that Ruffnut and Tuffnut had named off before, duskplant stalks, blood berries, Loki's pain--all of that plant, even though it meant Hiccup had to dig it out of the dirt to get the thick, knobby root under with the leaves. Hiccup had sent the twins off when they kept trying to pull the Loki’s pain up and kept breaking the base of it, making the sick-smelling ooze from inside of the root soak into the ground. It wasn't like they could scoop it up, either, touching the pus-like slime made skin ache and burn and turn red, and if it wasn’t washed off quick enough it made the skin dry out and crack. Finally Hiccup unearthed it and grinned a little at the ugly white thing.

 

"Alright, I got it. Is there anything--argh!" Hiccup yelped and jerked up when something was shoved down the back of his tunic. He nearly dropped the plant, and he had to fumble and try to catch it without breaking the fairly delicate tuber. If he broke it there wouldn't be another one nearby, the twins had broken all of the others already in this part of the forest. Hiccup finally managed to hold onto it, and once he had it tucked safely under his arm and started yanking the leaves out of his tunic. He looked down at the first one he pulled out, bright and shiny even though most of the oil was probably already rubbed off on his skin and inside of his tunic by now, and he turned to Ruffnut who was laughing.

 

"Ruff!" Hiccup couldn't even manage to think of something worth saying to make her feel bad, and he just yanked as much of the plant out of his shirt as he could and smacked her with it. She didn't even seem to notice it and just laughed harder.

 

"You should have seen your face!" she giggled and tried to smack it away when Hiccup threw the leaves at her. She was used to her brother hitting her, and usually Tuffnut didn’t try to holding back.

 

"Why don't you just torment your brother?" Hiccup could already feel the poison on the leaves starting to make his skin prickle and itch. Thankfully that was all sticky oak did, but it was still unpleasant and he didn't want to be short one of the few plants they actually had.

 

"I did! But he doesn't scream like you do, see?" Ruffnut jerked her thumb over her shoulder at her brother who was trying to scratch at a spot on his back he couldn't reach.

 

"We need these, remember? Stop wasting them!" Hiccup groaned and moved to put the Loki's pain down, untying his belt and making sure the last of the leaves were out from his tunic. He tied the belt back in place but he whined low when the sticky fabric pressed against his sensitive skin, making the prickly feeling flare into something nearly unbearable for a moment. He swallowed down the whimper he wanted to make and picked up the tuber with a sigh. "I really hope everyone else is having an easier time..."

 

\- - -

 

Somehow the berserker shaman was still dozing in the same position Snotlout and the twins had last seen her in. Fishlegs hadn't really thought it would be that easy to find her when Snotlout called to him where he'd left her, but maybe that was good. If she was relaxed enough to sleep, she probably wouldn't be riled up and ready to attack, right? She at least didn't seem as scary as her siblings. ...At least not in the same way. She had a weird sort of underfed and exhausted look that made her look worn bare and creepy. How was Fishlegs supposed to start a conversation with her, really? And a conversation that sounded normal and natural instead of that he was prying for information?

 

As they came closer Meatlug hunkered down on her belly and let out a low, uncomfortable sound. Fishlegs stopped immediately and rubbed over the Gronkle's head and held her close, "What is it, girl?"

 

Meatlug's eyes flicked to him and back to the berserker and she tucked up against her rider a little more firmly. Fishlegs wobbled but managed to keep upright and he looked back with her. Oh... that made sense. Dragons reacted strongly to seeing remains of other dragons, and the bone the shaman's staff was made of was too big to be anything but from a dragon. It was why dragon likenesses and some bones and even preserved heads had been used around Berk in the past. Usually it scared the dragons away, but sometimes it made them enraged. Meatlug was obviously not one of the ones it enraged.

 

"It's alright, girl, I promise, it's just..." Fishlegs trailed off, blood going cold. Nott wasn't asleep anymore. She was staring up at him, two dull points of green hidden behind tangled black hair. She reminded him of a wild animal that had been startled, too surprised to either run away or attack yet and still deciding what to do.

 

"H-hi..." Fishlegs managed to squeak out and he swallowed against the lump in his throat and tried again, "Hi. Your, uh, your staff--you might want to be careful with that. Dragons can recognize dragon bones, and they, ah... they don't like... uhm..."

 

Nott was slowly raising herself up, clinging to the bone and unfolding from her curled up position in a way that didn't quite look natural. She limped closer, and when she was near enough with the wind behind her Fishlegs realized how bad she smelled. It was a sort of sickeningly sweet and smoky scent that made him feel lightheaded and made an ache start to flare in his head.

 

"Uhm. Hi?" Fishlegs offered, not quite sure what to say to the staring girl or what she wanted or how to talk to her. He looked at the staff again and caught sight of the teeth, giving a start, "Are those human?"

 

Nott looked slowly to her staff, and she seemed to be trying to figure that out for herself before she spoke.

 

"Some of them are. A few recipes call for human bones, some extracted from a still living host, and these are the safest to procure. My brother would get into fights to knock teeth out of the other combatants and give them to me." Nott touched the teeth as she spoke, picking up one of them and rubbing it between her fingers before turning her dull, tired gaze back to Fishlegs. "I found them to be very thoughtful gifts."

 

"You, uh... you did, huh?" Fishlegs laughed a little awkwardly and suppressed the urge to hide her mouth from her.

 

"Yes. If he hadn't done it I would have been expected to receive donations, or to use my own."

 

"Oh..." Fishlegs wasn't sure what to say for a moment. It was creepy and weird, and it was something he really didn't want to think about too much. He looked at her staff again and to the bundle of dried plants tied there, "You collect plants too?"

 

Fishlegs hoped she'd talk some more about that instead of teeth and weird gross things. But she didn't seem to take the hint, she just looked at the plants and then back to him and nodded. Fishlegs squirmed and tried to think fast.

 

"Oh, ah, we have a lot of interesting flora on Berk. Some plants that are native only to this island," he said. It was a bit of a lie, the plants could be found on a couple other nearby islands in the archipelago, dragons would uproot them when they flew or drop seeds when they landed, but it was close enough to the truth. He looked around and hurried over to a patch of grass with a lone yellow flower, picking it to show it off, "This, for instance, is one of the few plants that dragons will consume. The Terrible Terrors that roam around Berk will come through, roll in them, and eat the flowers while leaving most of the plant behind. Personally I believe this is because the flowers are self-pollinating and this gives the plant a chance to spread farther that it would naturally be able to--but since Terrors rarely venture off of an island with an adequate food supply the chances of the plant making it off of Berk are very slim indeed."

 

Fishlegs smiled as he spoke, because she actually seemed to be interested in the flower, and if he had a chance to show off his extensive knowledge of botany why shouldn't he? He let her have the flower when she reached for it, and took a breath to keep explaining the nature of that reproductive cycle, but he lost the words when she bit the flower’s head off of the stem and swallowed it.

 

"I, uh..." he faltered and glanced to Meatlug like the sweet dragon might have been able to help him figure out what just happened, and then to Nott who seemed to be acting like nothing weird had just happened at all.

 

For a moment Fishlegs wondered if there might still be time to trade places with Snotlout.

 

\- - -

 

"This is the most boring job that has ever existed," Snotlout grumbled and threw another rock up into the air. He was on the ground and Hookfang had crawled up on top of the hut, but instead of trying to get the Nightmare back down Snotlout just decided it was a good time for moving target practice. Hookfang twisted around on the roof of the hut and smacked the rock out of the air with the end of his tail and let out the low, rumbling purr he'd make when he was happy.

 

"Seriously, though. I'm not wrong, right? Berserker, I thought he'd you know, do something. Give us a chance to show off how awesome of warriors we are," Snotlout looked around and hauled up a chunk of wood that used to be part of Mildew's fence and threw it up. Hookfang blasted it out of the sky in a burst of flame and Snotlout held his arm up over his face to avoid getting ashes and debris in his eyes. "Not that we need to prove how awesome we are, or that he'd even stand a chance against us."

 

Snotlout brought his arm down and his back stiffened when he saw Dagur in the door, leaning on the frame and glaring up at Hookfang. Or the sun, one of those. It was hard to tell since the berserker seemed to glare at everything when Snotlout was around.

 

"What? What do you want?" Snotlout called out to him, standing up as straight as he could and throwing his chest out. "Just go back inside, you know you're too weak to fight against us, and--"

 

Dagur jerked and coughed, and with a splatter there was red over his feet and the ground. He was still coughing roughly and clinging to the doorframe with his one good hand when Hookfang screamed down at him and rose up on the roof to light himself on fire. He was just bluffing--stupid lizard, it wasn't like Snotlout ever did something like that, so he didn't know where he learned it from--but the noise and sudden appearance of blood probably startled and confused him. Which Hookfang wasn't alone in, it had startled and confused Snotlout too, and the stocky boy ran over to do the only thing he could think of. He called Hookfang to get down off of the roof so they could get out of there.


	12. Chapter 12

Although it was most potentially dangerous Astrid had ended up with the easiest job. Stoick was doing most of the work keeping Bola on the island and distracted by talking with her and working out the new guidelines to their treaty as they toured Berk. Whenever a dragon got too close to them out of curiosity the berserker chief's hand twitched and jerked up a little--most likely to one of the two swords strapped to her back--but to Bola's credit she hadn't actually unsheathed it and attacked yet. It seemed she really was more interested in actually securing a new treaty between their tribes.

 

"I want to see a demonstration of your dragon riders," Bola said when she finally caught sight of Astrid on Stormfly. Stoick looked up to the young warrior with her and then back down to the smaller chief.

 

"And why would you need that?" he asked. "If we're on friendly terms you won't need to worry about what we're capable of."

 

"No, but an estimation of your strength will offer better insight of strategic resources you'll need for incoming armies. For example, if your dragons can take care of soldiers in boats far easier than soldiers on land we can travel on faster ships to reach your shores to protect them instead of bringing heavily armored ships weighed down with catapults."

 

Stoick nodded and signaled Astrid to come closer. She landed Stormfly near the two chiefs, and even if she had been close enough to hear what they were talking about before she still called out, "Yes? What can I do for you, sir?"

 

"Our guest would like a demonstration of our dragon rider's abilities. There's no one better for that task than you," Stoick answered.

 

"But not the best," Bola snorted from beside him and narrowed her eyes, looking over and studying the Deadly Nadder and her rider. Astrid bristled at the implication.

 

"If Hiccup was here I would gladly ask the same of him, but he's busy attending to duties I'm not able to," Stoick said shortly. He was just as bothered by one of his warrior's competency brought into question as Astrid herself was.

 

"I'll show you what I can do," Astrid just barely kept from growling it at her. Even if Hiccup was the fastest and Toothless the best shot nobody could say she wasn't the best out of the rest of the academy. Talent was on Hiccup's side, but hard work was on Astrid's and Stormfly's and with a word the Nadder took up into the air.

 

Speed wasn't a problem, or agility. Stormfly could get up to her top speed almost immediately and she could dive down to fly in the narrow roads of Berk before coming back up to go over a hut in a careful but fast pattern. The technique itself was impressive, but it meant Astrid was hidden from view for a good part of it, and Bola couldn't see the bulk of what made it impressive. So Astrid took sharp turns over the roads and had Stormfly twist in the air, flying low to the ground and avoiding the buildings as she made her way back to the chiefs. The first pass was too low and too close to them, Stoick had to duck so he wouldn't be hit and Bola jerked down just out of reflex. A few turns to get back around and Astrid was passing over them higher, Stoick didn't have to bow to avoid being kicked by the Nadder's claws and Bola seemed to have steeled herself against the dragon's sudden, quick flight overhead.

 

"It's fast and it obeys well enough, then, but I've yet to see fighting capabilities," Bola managed to growl out as she glared up to Stoick. Astrid had already been heading toward where she had passed over Fishlegs, and he and the Berserker's shaman were both making their way over to see why Stormfly was zooming around. Astrid spun Stormfly, putting the dragon's back to the ground so she could reach down and snatch Fishlegs' helmet off of his head. She'd just apologize later, he'll understand, and she urged Stormfly up into the sky again. Astrid flung the helmet down to the two chiefs, hopefully too low for Stoick to try to grab it, and grinned when Bola caught it in the air. The shorter chief looked to Stoick for an explanation, eyes narrowed, and let out a barely-human snarl when one of Stormfly’s spines clipped the edge of the helmet and knocked it clear out of her hand with a sudden jolt.

 

"How was that?" Astrid called out as she landed Stormfly, settling back in the saddle once her dragon was on the ground and smiling smugly at the look still plastered on the berserker's face. Bola looked stunned and angry, and that was a good combination for an enemy to have.

 

"I stand corrected..." Bola finally muttered as she flexed her hand to work away the tingling left by the metal being struck out of her grip.

 

"Was that really necessary?" Fishlegs had come up close enough to call out to Astrid, and Meatlug toddled up ahead to grab up Fishlegs' helmet in her great mouth and bring it back to her rider.

 

"Of course it was," Astrid grinned.

 

"Impressive. But I still want a proper demonstration from each of your riders, somewhere I can actually see all of their skills," Bola said and looked to Stoick again, then frowned and looked over his shoulder. "What is _that_?"

 

"What's what?" Fishlegs asked as they all looked up with her. But as soon as they were looking they saw what it was, the dying end of a flash of fire and smoke rising up in the middle of the sky. That in itself wasn't so worrying, sometimes dragons just blasted at things, but it was right where Dagur was staying far away from the rest of the village. Which meant it was probably Snotlout, and Astrid and Fishlegs both looked at each other with a grimace. Either Dagur was doing something he shouldn't be, or Snotlout was just bringing attention to himself.

 

"Likely nothing," Stoick answered. He might not have known the specifics of what was going on, but he knew where they had put Dagur. "Sometimes dragons will act up as any animal will, best to just let it get its energy out."

 

Bola nodded and started to look away, but the flare of fire that suddenly licked up stopped her and she glared at the flames like they had personally offended her, "I want to see what's going on."

 

"I do too," Nott murmured, but she wasn't watching the fire. She was looking from Fishlegs to Stoick to Astrid, a studying sort of stare that unnerved them each. Gothi knew the past and the present and the future, there was no reason to assume this girl couldn't do the same.

 

"Come on, then," Bola said and she turned to Astrid. "Can your dragon take another rider?"

 

"Uh--no. Stormfly's very particular, she only really listens to me," Astrid lied quickly and dug her heel into a soft spot on the Nadder's side. It made Stormfly screech and flare her wings, and Astrid promised in her head she'd make it up to her poor dragon with an extra serving of dinner that night. They started up into the air and she called down to them, "Fishlegs and I will go on ahead and see what it is."

 

"Ah, yeah, right," Fishlegs said and moved to get up onto Meatlug, more than happy to take the opportunity to leave the berserker guests behind and get away from there. Even if it meant he was probably flying into something much worse.

 

Bola watched the riders fly toward where the fire had died down, but she started walking again toward it. Stoick stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder, "We have business to discuss first, before you have the freedom to go wherever you like on my island."

 

Bola glared at Stoick, then at her sister. For a while Nott held her harsh gaze with her empty, somewhat distracted one, but then the shaman nodded and looked away. Bola looked back to Stoick as soon as Nott nodded, the young leader waved her hand toward Stoick and made for all the world to look like she was ready to follow the other chief. And she did, Bola simply went after Stoick when he led her away from the flash of fire so they could continue to work out their treaty. When they were a few good paces away, though, Nott looked back to the place where the dragons had almost reached and started to limp toward it. It was easy to assume Bola had been asking her advisor if she should listen, instead of realizing that she was ordering a subordinate to do what she was unable to.


	13. Chapter 13

Astrid landed long before Fishlegs had, so when he was finally settling Meatlug down on the ground the other dragon rider was already looking through the hut and came out to meet him.

 

"There's blood," she said.

 

"I can see that..." Fishlegs muttered, looking at the doorway and the browning splatter on the ground there.

 

"No, there's more inside. Not a lot," Astrid said and looked back to the door of the hut. It wasn't much of a comfort that there wasn't a lot of blood, even just a drop would have been too much, but the bed had small smears of it on the blankets and furs in addition to what had been spilled outside.

 

"What happened?" Fishlegs looked to see if he could at least get any clues from the ground around them.

 

"I don't know," Astrid sighed. "There's no sigh of a struggle, not even of a fight. If Snotlout got rid of Dagur he'd probably be here gloating."

 

"There's that," Fishlegs pointed up to the scorch marks on the roof of the hut and Astrid looked up at them.

 

"If Dagur did something to Snotlout he wouldn't be able to control Hookfang well enough to keep him from getting help," Astrid said quietly. Even if she hated Snotlout she didn't want something like that to happen to him.

 

"That might be what he's doing," Fishlegs said, just as quiet and just as torn between always sort of wanting Snotlout to get hurt somehow and not really liking the prospect when it finally came and had the potential to be deadly. "He might have gone to find Hiccup and Toothless."

 

Astrid looked around the former farm again and moved to get up onto Stormfly, "I can find them out in the fields faster. Stay here in case someone comes back."

 

Fishlegs looked like he was about to argue, but he just nodded and reached up to rub over Meatlug's nose to calm her down as Stormfly took into the air.

 

\- - -

 

"And you're sure this is everything you can remember?" Hiccup looked over the haul they had finally ended up with, tripfern and Nadder thistle recently added to the pile. It all just looked like a mess that they should have been working to clear off of the island instead of collecting it, though. It was just a horrible mess of things that made skin burn and itch and would make it fell like your insides were melting if you ate it, if you even felt anything at all before the end. The most harmless thing they had collected was sticky oak, and that they had to recollect about three times because Ruff was convinced it was the funniest thing in the world to shove it in someone's clothes. Hiccup frowned and rolled his shoulders, trying hard not to scratch at it because he knew the prickling would just get worse if he did.

 

"Yeah, this is everything," Ruffnut said as she tossed her final haul of the offending, itchy plant into the pile. She was rubbing her hands together and scratching at her palms, she had probably gotten the sticky secretion on herself when she was busy tormenting her brother and Hiccup with the sticky oak. Hiccup grinned a little as he got an idea.

 

"Hey, Ruff? You have something on your face," Hiccup reached up and pointed at her face, although not really at any place in particular.

 

"What? Where?" She frowned and reached up to rub her cheek, looking down at her empty palm and expecting to have gotten whatever-it-was off.

 

"No, the other side," Hiccup said, and had to keep himself from laughing when she rubbed the other side of her face the same way.

 

"I don't see anything..." Tuff frowned and watched his sister, obviously trying to find the spot too.

 

"Yeah, she got it now," Hiccup said. That was probably enough to get her to rub the worst of the oil onto her face, she'd be itching just as bad as them soon, and Hiccup smiled smugly at the thought.

 

It was a short-lived victory since they heard the crashing through the branches and all three of them looked toward the noise. Their dragons came closer to keep their riders safe, Barf's head snaking around Ruffnut and Belch's around Tuffnut to herd the twins together near where the two heads met. Toothless was couched near Hiccup and let out a loud scream when Hookfang broke into the clearing. The Monstrous Nightmare roared back at the Night Fury and dropped something to the ground before he landed, and Snotlout climbed off of his dragon as soon as they were close enough to the ground.

 

"Something happened to Dagur," Snotlout said before Hiccup even managed to ask what he was doing there.

 

"What happened?" Hiccup asked and looked back to the broken tree branches the two had burst through, then to the lump Hookfang had dropped when he came through. It was Dagur. That... sort of made sense. Hookfang didn't want him near Snotlout and carried the berserker like a rock instead of risking having him close to his rider.

 

"I don't know! He just came out and spat up blood," Snotlout called as Hiccup hurried over to Dagur, pushing him to get him sitting up and checking him. His fever was back--or rather it was bad again. The berserker had never really gotten rid of it, it just faded back to something normal every so often. Hiccup had thought he was over the worst of it by now.

 

"So you brought him out here?" Hiccup yelled and looked back to Snotlout.

 

"What would you rather have me do? Let him keep coughing up blood without telling you, or just leave him there alone?" Snotlout spat back at him and Hiccup glared at the other boy because he really didn't have a better idea when he was put on the spot like that. He had been planning to keep combing the forests to see if there was anything else the twins could remember before they turned back. If he hadn't known about this it might have been too late.

 

"We can't do anything for him out here, we need Gothi and she needs to prepare what we managed to get," Hiccup said. He turned back to Dagur and frowned, there was drying and flaking blood on his mouth and it was between his teeth, giving them a red outline and tinting the teeth darker and yellower. Hiccup was a little more gentle when he spoke to Dagur and started to urge him up, "Come on, we have to go. Can you stand?"

 

Dagur winced but he nodded slowly and he started to get up onto his feet. At least Toothless was slightly more used to having the berserker on his back than Hookfang was, even if it felt to Hiccup that the larger boy was going to fall off at any moment.

 

\- - -

 

Fishlegs was pacing, worried and looking around and wishing there was something he could do to distract himself. Something to eat would have been nice, or something to read, but if all else failed he could always look around and dig up rocks for Meatlug to eat. She always appreciated the attention and it felt good to haul up a sedimentary rock and toss it to her to get a thankful little growl in return. But when he pulled up his next one Meatlug didn't seem interested and that was odd. She always loved food, even if she was full she managed to find a little room. He looked back to the hut with her and yelped. He had spent too much time away from it and wandered just a little too far, he hadn't noticed someone coming up until she was nearly at the door. Dagur's creepy sister they were trying to keep away from him. Dagur wasn't there, but Nott couldn't be there either, what if someone brought her brother back?

 

"No, wait!" Fishlegs called out and tossed the rock aside as he ran to the hut. Nott didn't seem to notice him and stopped at the doorway, poking at the tacky blood splattered there with the end of her staff before she walked over the threshold. Fishlegs wasn't fast enough, when he got there she was already a few steps inside and looking around at everything. She sounded like she was sniffing, and when she was at the bed she pulled up the fur on it and buried her nose in it to smell it. Fishlegs just chalked it up to one more thing that was weird about her, the whole hut smelled like, well, someone was in there that was sick. The stink of illness hung in the air and it would just be worse in something like a pelt that would catch all the smell.

 

"You can't be in here, you need to go," Fishlegs said and he managed to sound more firm and less worried than he felt.

 

"You've been keeping someone very ill here..." Nott murmured and dropped the fur. She wasn't particularly considerate, when she finished smelling the pelt she had just let it fall to the floor. She picked at the sheets smeared with blood and tugged them up to lick at one of the browning patches. That was as much disgusting weirdness as Fishlegs could handle and he came up to her to actually pull her away by the arm. Nott stumbled and nearly fell and Fishlegs almost felt bad for her. He hadn't thought a berserker, even one who didn't fight, would be quite so weak and unsteady.

 

"You need to leave," Fishlegs said again as he took her back to the door. He was almost feeling good about this, he'd be able to send her off, everything would be fine, and he could brag to everyone about how he saved the day later.

 

And then Toothless came through the trees and landed just a few feet from them. Hiccup saw them and his eyes went wide, he tensed, and against his back Dagur winced and looked up. Right then the former berserker chief had the same hazy and not-quite-all-there look Nott usually had, although laced with pain instead of apathy. They were all quiet for a beat, Hiccup and Fishlegs didn't know what to say and Dagur wasn't able to say anything, but eventually Nott broke the silence.

 

"Someone very ill indeed..."


	14. Chapter 14

"I can explain--you can't tell Bola," Hiccup started, not sure which he needed to get through to the medicine woman first. It wasn't like he couldn't chase her down--if she had been running--but he couldn't just keep her detained somewhere. Nott wandering off and not coming back would just raise too many questions. She came closer and leaned heavily on the bone staff when she was beside her brother as she studied him.

 

"There is no reason to tell her," Nott said simply and she reached out to touch Dagur's forehead lightly and carefully, then the blood that had dried on his lips and chin. Hiccup relaxed a little, from the words and that Dagur just seemed to be letting her touch him he thought maybe she'd help.

 

"He'll die tonight no matter what," she finished and Hiccup stared at her, then looked back to Dagur. He wasn't _letting_ Nott touch him, he wasn't able to push her away. There was no way this was so sudden. What had happened? Did Gothi give him the wrong thing? Or had Dagur been hiding how bad off he was for too long? Hiccup didn't think Snotlout had lied about how he found him. Even if he had been lying there would have been some signs of bruises or wounds, not a fever and blood coming out of his mouth and barely able to keep conscious.

 

"You have to help him," Hiccup pleaded as he looked back to Nott. She didn't seem to understand the request, or the urgency, and Hiccup had the impulse to just shake her until she started acting normal. Nott frowned after a moment and leaned in, sniffing near Hiccup, and then reached to grab the back of his vest and tunic to yank it up and smell it. The sticky oil make Hiccup’s back flare and prickle as the itch got worse from the movement of the cloth and he shoved her away. "Stop that!"

 

Nott was looking down at her fingers and had them curled like she was still holding Hiccup’s clothes before she sniffed at her hand. She looked up at him and for the first time her eyes actually seemed clearer when she spoke, "Where did you get that?"

 

Hiccup just stared at her, he didn't know what she meant or wanted or--and then it clicked. The stupid plant Ruffnut had shoved down his shirt in the first place. He reached down to open the satchel he had put on Toothless, taking the Loki's pain out of where he had stashed it since he hadn't trusted the twins with it.

 

"We were collecting ingredients, what we thought someone might need to help Dagur," he said. Nott reached for it and Hiccup jerked it away from her, holding it as far from the shaman as he could. "If you want it, help him. Or I'll break it."

 

Nott was still for a while, long enough for Hookfang and Barf and Belch to come into the former farm. The three riders were hesitant to come closer to the standoff but they were all watching to see what would happen. Nott didn't seem to notice them. She was still watching Hiccup and slowly she pulled her hand back, holding onto her staff and considering the demand for a while before she finally nodded.

 

"I will," she murmured and she glanced to Dagur. "I wonder... what has he done to deserve this compassion?"

 

Hiccup didn't want to answer that. This wasn't for the Skrill information, it wasn't for anything. He just didn't want Dagur dead.

 

"Bring him back to bed," Nott finally said as she looked away from him. She started back to the hut, limping slowly and leaving deep grooves in the dirt where she dragged her bone staff.

 

"Dagur? Is this alright? Can you trust her?" Hiccup said it quietly and glanced back to his passenger. Dagur didn't seem to really be awake, his eyes were open--barely--but he wasn't talking, he was hardly breathing, and there was fresh bright blood between his teeth again. Right now there wasn't anything to lose if Nott couldn't be trusted, Dagur would die either way. He might just go quicker and be in less pain if his sister finished him off. Hiccup urged Toothless to follow and they went into the hut carefully like that, Hiccup getting off when he had to get Dagur off of his dragon and back into the bed. The bigger boy wasn't even wincing anymore when Hiccup jarred his broken arm.

 

"So is there anything other than the Loki's pain that you need to fix him?" Hiccup looked to where Nott was at the fire pit, she was looking through the kettles and pots likely trying to find an empty one. When she couldn't she just took a pot with a scorched bottom and tipped it over on its side to spill out the brown brew.

 

"I do not need that to heal him," she said. Nott had picked one of the smaller and lighter pots to use and it swung over the empty pit that just had embers and charcoal glowing within it. She started looking around through the jars and jugs, whatever she deemed to be useless she ignored as soon as she identified it. The berserker was knocking over powders and oils and infusions left and right and Hiccup winced as he watched her. Finally Nott found what she had wanted, a jug of clean water, and she poured it into the pot, "I have something else."

 

"What is it?" Hiccup didn't really expect an answer so when Nott just kept messing up Gothi's things and feeding the fire to coax it back into a flame he wasn't upset. She was doing something, at least, and Hiccup looked back to Dagur to try to do something himself. It wasn't really fair to say Dagur was worse, Hiccup wasn't even sure what normal would have been at that point. Dagur was weak and seemed to be alternating between gritting his teeth and panting weakly, like he couldn't manage to breathe and brace against the pain at the same time. Hiccup reached to touch his forehead carefully, hand creeping down over Dagur's eyes, the way Hiccup had touched the beaten up berserker when they had been trapped on the gigantic dragon in the first place. There wasn't any sun to block out of his eyes but Dagur seemed to find it comforting then, so maybe he would now. Hiccup spoke quietly, barely above a whisper, "You're going to be alright."

 

Almost as soon as he said it Nott was beside Hiccup and pulling his hand off of Dagur to press a knife to the dragon rider’s palm. She cut through the skin in one quick slice, the knife was sharper than it looked, and Hiccup pulled his hand back with a cry, "What are you doing?!"

 

"I need healthy blood," Nott said, but instead of reaching for him again she took Dagur's hand and cut him the same way. She pressed the side of her knife against the wound, painting the metal in red, and dropped her brother's hand like a dead rat as she looked back to Hiccup. "Give me your hand. I need to coat the other side."

 

Hiccup glared at her and hesitated, but he held his hand to her and she pressed the relatively clean side of the knife to his wound. Blood slicked over it and she went back to her pot with Hiccup watching her. Nott looked in at the water that was starting to steam in and then to her staff and she reached up to grab the dried herbs that had been tied to it to pull them off. The shaman cut the bundle twice, smearing Hiccup and Dagur’s blood on the dead plants, and tossed it all into the pot. After a quick glance around she picked up a spoon to start stirring and pushing the plants to the bottom.

 

"When this boils it will be finished. Take it from the fire and let it cool. Make him drink a cup every hour or so for as long as it takes to drink it all. You can tell him to chew the dregs once it's finished, if you like. It won't do anything to speed his healing but it will taste awful," Nott spoke in the same, bored, tired tone the whole time that Hiccup hadn't even realized she had made a joke at her brother's expense until he was going back over the instructions in his head.

 

"You brought the medicine you'd need for Dagur with you?" Hiccup looked over to her.

 

"No. I brought the medicine I need for myself," Nott had reached up to fiddle with the other ties to her staff and untied two of the strands of teeth. She removed one human tooth and two wolf's fangs from her collection and tossed that into the pot with the herbs, making Hiccup grimace. Nott went back to stirring the pot as she spoke, "The soldiers take what I make for them, but to make them I must be around my own concoctions. I touch them and breathe them in. If I could not neutralize the affects and the rage it causes I would have gone insane by now."

 

There was a sound from the doorway and Hiccup and Nott both looked to it. Most everyone was crowded there, Snotlout and Fishlegs and the twins, and one of them had laughed at Nott. All of them looked at least a little hesitant about laughing or doing anything with Nott actually looking at them, though.

 

"What is going _on_?" Astrid’s voice rang out when she came from between Snotlout and Tuffnut and shoved them both to the side roughly as she walked through the door. "I've been flying around looking for you and everyone came right back here."

 

She froze when she saw Nott in the middle of the hut, the berserker watching Astrid the way she had been watching the rest of the dragon riders. Astrid's hand twitched like she was starting to reach for a weapon and Hiccup called out to her, "She's healing Dagur."

 

"Why?" Astrid narrowed her eyes at Nott, she wasn't sure what to make of her. Nott was weird and seemed harmless, but Astrid couldn't shake the feeling that it was like a venomous snake that would pretend to be a broken tree branch up until someone came too close to it. Hiccup tried to think of how to explain it, but Nott, for as slow as she was, actually manage to beat him.

 

"In trade. Berk has plants that are valuable to me, valuable enough that I am willing to convince Bola to allow our brother to live for them," Nott paused for a moment, and then nodded toward the door Astrid was still blocking, "But to do that I will need to speak with her first."

 

Astrid looked back to Hiccup and he nodded. The young warrior stepped aside and as Nott came closer the rest of the riders pulled back to let her go.

 

"Hiccup, are you sure this is a good idea?" Astrid hissed it as soon as the berserker shaman was outside of the hut.

 

"It's the best one I have right now," Hiccup sighed and shook his head. "Just--go with her. Follow her. Make sure that's what she's really telling Bola, alright?"

 

Astrid looked like she was going to argue, but she nodded and left after Nott. From the sound of it the other riders were leaving with Astrid to keep an eye on Nott, and see what was going to happen when the news of Dagur's current residence on Berk was told to the new chief. Which Hiccup was almost glad about, it meant he didn't have to worry about someone watching him, or that he was going to look like an idiot trying to get Dagur to drink his first cup of whatever tea Nott had made for him. Hiccup frowned and reached to touch Dagur's head gently with his uncut hand. Hiccup felt the fever burn under his palm and Dagur let out a small, pained sound, like even that light touch was too much for him to bear. Hopefully he'd last long enough to even drink the medicine.


	15. Chapter 15

Time crawled by, minutes stretched out too long and Hiccup started wishing he had something with him to do while he waited for the pot to boil. There wasn't much of a reason to talk, Dagur was barely breathing he wouldn't be able to respond, but even so it was a comfort to Hiccup to fill in the silence in the hut.

 

"Your family is weird. But you're weird too, so I guess that makes sense," the scrawny viking set the plant he had been holding as ransom aside. Nott wasn't there to take it, and even if she was Hiccup already had the tea. "I always thought Oswald was kind of nice. I mean, I didn't do too much with him, but my dad liked him, and he didn't make fun of me or anything. At least not that I heard."

 

Hiccup frowned as pulled up the fur from the floor and started putting it over Dagur. What did Bola and Nott think of Dagur getting rid of their father? Hiccup hadn't really considered that before, but three of Oswald's kids were on the island, and Nott was obviously willing to overlook her brother's patricidal tendencies for a plant that oozed a burning pus when it was broken. Did she not care? Or was the plant really that valuable? Or was it the plants she said she had been making remedies out of that had addled her brain? Hiccup looked back to the pot, little bubbles were starting to form on the edges in the water but it wasn't boiling yet. He'd seen ill people act strange, either when they were in fever or when they were being cured. Was it the medicine that made her act so strange, maybe even make her stop caring about things she might have normally? Or was that weirdness just her?

 

"You're not going to act like that, right? Staring off at nothing and talking too long to talk?" Hiccup asked as he glanced back to Dagur. All he got in reply was labored breathing and a tiny whimper. Hiccup sighed and reached up to scruff his hand through his brown hair as he stood. "Well, it'd make you easier to contain. Hey, bud, come here. Let's see if we can speed this up."

 

He led Toothless to the fire pit, shifting back the pot on the spit it was hung on to clear a bit of space under it. Fire only got so hot so fast, plasma would be hotter and faster and Hiccup could try to pour the tea into Dagur before the berserker just gave up on life entirely. Hiccup gave the order and Toothless let out a constant but small blast of plasma. The pot heated up faster and the water steamed, Hiccup picked up the spoon to stir it and make sure it was making tea properly even with hurrying everything along. It seemed to be working, the water was getting murky and a dull brown, the plants floating to the surface now and then, but the more Hiccup pushed them down and the more cooked they got the more they sank to the bottom. With the teeth. Hiccup stuck his tongue out at the thought. There were all sorts of bones in what he ate on a regular basis, but that wasn't really the same. Those weren't human. ...He hoped.

 

The water was bubbling rapidly soon and Hiccup told Toothless to stop, rubbing the Night Fury's head and telling him he had done a good job before he moved to take the pot away from the scorched plate in and pit and the heat. Hiccup found a clean cup, likely one of the ones Gothi had been putting her medicines into, and spooned a share of the tea into it without bothering to let it cool first. Dagur worried him too much right now to feel comfortable waiting and taking time to do all of the steps the way Nott had said them to him. Dagur would be fine, it was essentially the same stuff, even if it might burn his mouth like this.

 

"Hey, can you get up?" Hiccup said it quietly when he was by the bed again, putting the cup onto the now-cluttered table beside Dagur's bed. Hiccup waited a moment for him to reply before reaching down to just haul Dagur up himself. The berserker tensed and let out a pitiful sound when he was touched and moved, and Hiccup felt guilty since the older boy tensing made it a little easier to shove Dagur into something close to a sitting position. If he had stayed limp and like dead weight Hiccup would have never been able to move him. The small viking had to get behind Dagur to actually hold him up, bracing and letting Dagur lean back against him some, and once he seemed stable Hiccup reached for the tea.

 

"You need to drink this. Can you do that on your own?" It was pointless to ask it, Dagur couldn't do anything on his own and he might not have even realized what Hiccup was talking about. So Hiccup held the cup to his mouth and got most of it into Dagur and down his throat before the older boy realized he was supposed to swallow. It's was awkward and the former berserker coughed more than he actually drank, he wasn't quite able to get it into his stomach instead of his lungs for a good portion of it. Slowly the cup was drained and Hiccup could get Dagur back down on the bed.

 

"You _really_ need to bathe," Hiccup grumbled and rubbed at his nose like that might get the smell away. Dagur smelled like sweat, and not normal sweat, the exceptionally rank kind that came with being sick or being in pain. Other than his trip to be chained in the arena Dagur hadn't been brought to the village for anything, certainly not to visit the bathhouse, and he probably hadn't been up to scrubbing himself clean in a basin up here. Hiccup shifted his clothes back into place where they had gotten mussed getting Dagur sitting up and taking his medicine, and whined when that made the aching, prickling itch flare back to life on his back. Dagur wasn't the only one that needed to bathe, that stupid itch would be driving Hiccup crazy until he scrubbed the oil off.

 

Well... Dagur was out of it, and Hiccup had to wait an hour until he could give Dagur the next dose. Hiccup might as well use the time and find some clean water and a cloth to wash off the irritating oil. Hiccup looked back to Dagur, he seemed to be breathing easier than before but he was definitely unconscious now. Safe enough, and Hiccup pulled off his vest and tunic and started looking around to find the water and something he could use to scrub the sticky oil off.

 

\- - -

 

"What else have you collected?" Nott said after a bit of walking. The trip back to Berk was longer than usual. Nott hadn't asked for a flight back and nobody offered it, and with Astrid staying on the ground and having Stormfly walk beside the visiting berserker the rest of the dragon riders followed suit. It wasn't odd for them to follow her, it was pretty much accepted that when Hiccup wasn't around and in charge Astrid was. Even though Fishlegs would contest that he had more dragon knowledge and Snotlout would complain that he was the better warrior neither one really tried to wrest control from her.

 

"There's a magic word, you know," Snotlout sneered at Nott as he said it. It wasn't like he ever said please himself, but he was looking for any excuse to bother her. Nott frowned and seemed to have been thinking of something--maybe her brain was so addled she had actually forgotten how to ask for things politely and was trying to recall how--but when she looked to have figured something out she shook her staff suddenly and sharply towards Hookfang. The Monstrous Nightmare reared up and screamed at the offending bone, his wings flapping like he blow it away, before he lunged forward and took to the sky. Hookfang was still screaming down at Nott as Snotlout tried to get him under control as they flew off.

 

"It really does bother them, doesn't it?" Nott grinned and laughed. It wasn't as loud as her brother's, but it had the same drawn-out quality that made it unsettling to listen to.

 

"Yeah, so it'd probably be best for everyone if you don't do that again," Fishlegs answered her and he tried to rub over Meatlug's side to help calm her down. The poor, sweet creature was still unnerved by the dragon bone staff and that just got worse when Nott brandished it like she did.

 

"I think she should to it more!" Ruffnut yelled and her brother hollered out in agreement. Nott laughed again, low and drawn out too long, and now that she was smiling it was easy to see her eyeteeth were crooked in a way that made it look like she had gnarled fangs.

 

"I will. We can have fun once I know what else I have to work with," Nott turned to the twins on still seated on Barf and Belch. She liked them a little better than most of the people on Berk and they seemed more likely to like and help her than the others.

 

"You mean the plants, right?" Tuff asked. Nott nodded and he grabbed up his satchel as he hopped down off of his dragon's long neck to walk along beside here. "This."

 

"Tuff, don't show her that," Astrid was more annoyed by him than actually bothered by his willingness to cooperate with her. From what Hiccup said about when he and the twins had gone to deal with the Skrill and the headache it caused Tuffnut seemed to take to those sorts of people far too well. Ruffnut probably would too, and they'd likely be trying to cause mayhem with her until the berserkers left. The only upside was that since Bola seemed to hate everything and everyone the twins would probably only have the berserker that seemed like she was going to fall asleep standing up at any moment to play with.

 

Nott was inspecting the bag without seeming to notice the people around her anymore. She was taking out leaves and looking over them, tearing them a little to sniff them and then putting them back. She took out one of the berries and crushed it between her fingers and played with the juice before wiping her fingers clean on her tunic. Astrid was almost tempted to warn her against playing with poisonous things like that when her hands were cut up the way they were. There were lots of little nicks and a couple of deeper cuts and a few shiny pink places where she must have burned herself. But Nott was the one excited about the plants so she must have had some idea about what she was doing, and Astrid just let her go.

 

"So what you gave Dagur will help him?" Astrid called down to Nott.

 

"Eventually," Nott mumbled it to herself as she looked through the bag a little more, then closed it and slung it on her shoulder. If she remembered that it belong to Tuffnut she didn't seem to care. "He'll stop feeling the pain quickly, but his brain will be addled."

 

"Like yours?" Astrid asked. Fishlegs winced at that, but Astrid hadn't actually meant it as an insult. There was obviously something wrong with Nott and she'd be a terrible healer if she didn't already know that. Nott seemed to forget the question as she watched a bird flit around in the trees above.

 

"Worse," the berserker said after too long. Astrid had forgotten about it by then and only remembered what she had asked when Nott kept talking. "I've been drinking that tea for far longer. I've gotten used to the effects by now, I can function close to normally. Dagur won't be able to."

 

"Will he be a danger?" Astrid's voice was firm as she looked down to Nott again.

 

"To himself? Maybe. Sometimes it becomes hard to remember to do things that you can usually do without thinking of, like breathing and blinking," Nott said and she spoke like it wasn't anything to really worry about, as if forgetting to breathe was a minor problem. "But if you mean a threat to your friend, no. Dagur won't be strong enough to harm him even if he feels so inclined."

 

"How long will he be like that?"

 

"I left enough tea for a day. That will be enough, although the effects will last for nearly a week," Not said. She was walking slower than before and stopped entirely after a bit, frowning as she seemed to be trying to think. She turned to Tuffnut, "If I described a plant, do you think you could find it?"

 

"What, again? I was doing that all day," Tuffnut huffed.

 

"Just one. A mushroom, small and brown with white spots, it's called redlind."

 

Tuffnut frowned at that and scratched his head under his hemlet before he looked up to his sister. Ruffnut seemed just as confused before something seemed to click, "You mean addlebrain? Tuffnut ate it once, he said he could taste colors, so we were yelled at and told not to eat it again."

 

"Oh yeah," Tuffnut grinned and laughed. "Man, blue tasted _awful_. It was like dirt."

 

"Yes. Do you think you could find it for me?" Nott was leaning on her staff and off-guard, so it was almost too easy for Astrid to order Stormfly to pick up the berserker by the back of her tunic and drop her onto the saddle behind Astrid. Nott flailed and nearly fell off before Astrid caught her and straightened her back up.

 

"They're not looking for anything else," Astrid said firmly. She urged Stormfly up into the air so Astrid could get rid of her charge as quickly as she could. At least it seemed like Nott was afraid of heights, she clung to Astrid as strong as her thin arms could manage and buried her face into the other girl's blond braid and back. It meant Nott was closer than Astrid would have liked, but she wouldn't be talking much on the flight to the village.


	16. Chapter 16

Hiccup had cleaned the sticky oil from his back fairly easily, even if he had to push Toothless away from him to keep the dragon from trying to 'help' with cleaning off his back more often than he actually scrubbed. He turned his tunic inside out so the clean side would be against his skin and after that he just sort of... waited. There wasn't much to do, straightening the bottles and vials Nott had tipped over didn't offer that much work and every now and then Hiccup wondered if he was actually helping or not. He had to shove Dagur up for a second dose, and then a third. Both times Hiccup had managed to somewhat wake him up to at least get Dagur to drink on his own, but as soon as he way lying down again he was asleep.

 

At least there were some of Gothi's Terrors meandering around. It gave Hiccup something to play with and pay attention to while he was waiting for the time to pass. He was teaching them to sit up and chirp and sing when there was finally some sign of life from Dagur.

 

"Wha're y'doing...?" Dagur slurred it badly as he tried to speak. He looked like he wasn't quite awake yet but Hiccup didn't care. He was bored enough that even talking to Dagur was a promising prospect.

 

"Just training them to do tricks," Hiccup said and he got up to come closer to the bed. All the Terrors followed him, and most of them climbed up onto the fur and settled down either beside or on top of Dagur. "Looks like they like you."

 

"I wake up sometimes and they're on top of me..." Dagur said. He was sounding a little clearer, but not by much. "Is that normal even without a fever?"

 

"Sometimes, yeah. At least they're small, big dragons will try to do that too," Hiccup glanced around and shrugged as he sat down on the edge of the bed. Dagur wasn't smacking at the Terrors, so he probably wouldn't smack at him too. "It's a little worse when it's a big dragon that you had as a hatchling. They think that they're still the size they were when they were small and try to act like it."

 

Dagur reached up weakly, and Hiccup wasn't sure what he was going to do, but one of the Terrors waddled closer to cram his head under the bigger boy's hand. After a moment Dagur just gave in and started petting the little dragon weakly. "It seems kind of... nice. Like this."

 

"It is," Hiccup said. He wasn't really sure what to say after that, though. He didn't expect Dagur to wake up... reasonable. Hiccup really doubted it was because the poisons were being worked out of his system. Dagur was always, well, _deranged,_ and given how violent he was Oswald probably didn't want his kid any more hyped up and ready to slaughter things than usual. Nott likely wasn't supposed to be making whatever she had been feeding to Dagur to get him this sick while their father was alive.

 

"Why do I feel like this?" Dagur mumbled as he slid his hand down the Terror's side. The little dragon answered with a purr and settled in against him.

 

"Maybe you're mellowing down," Hiccup said, still stuck in his own thoughts.

 

"What? Stop being stupid," Dagur huffed and glared weakly at Hiccup. "Why do I feel alright? I thought I was dying before."

 

"Oh," Hiccup blushed in embarrassment. He was starting to understand how Astrid must feel all the time, he kept getting the urge to smack Dagur for anything. "Nott made tea, she said it would help."

 

"Nott?" Dagur snarled and he started trying to sit up. All he managed to do was disturb all of the Terrors and make himself cry out in pain before Hiccup pushed him back down.

 

"Stop trying to move so fast, you need to go slow. And I don't think you can walk anyway, you couldn't before, and you were coughing up blood," Hiccup wasn't sure if he actually made a good argument or if Dagur just wasn't up to fighting him. Either way Hiccup was going to take the easy win. "I think you need another dose, actually."

 

Dagur shook his head but Hiccup ignored it and got up to get another cup of the murky tea. Dagur was worried, but as far as Hiccup could see the medicinewoman hadn't done anything to make the brew toxic. At least it wasn't any more toxic than the plants Hiccup had been dealing with all day, and Dagur was doing a lot better now. Hiccup came back with it and sat on the bed beside Dagur, and after a minute of trying to wrestle to get the older boy sitting up so he could drink Hiccup snapped down at him, "You can drink this or I can get a funnel, which one do you want?"

 

The former berserker chief held still and glared at Hiccup as he weighed the options. Then seemed to think about which one was actually worse. Finally he gave in, and with Hiccup's help Dagur managed to sit up enough to drink the tea slowly. Hiccup had to sit behind Dagur some, just enough for the other to lean back against him as he drank, and he had to hold the cup for him since Dagur seemed either unwilling or unable to hold the cup on his own. As long as he was cooperating Hiccup was willing to put up with that.

 

"What does this do, anyway?" Hiccup asked when Dagur finished off the tea. He was making a face and chewing on a sprig of grass that had been scooped up with the dose.

 

"It flushes everything out as much as I can tell, drink it and it makes you get rid of everything. Always made Nott act weird," Dagur answered. He wasn't in much of a position to talk about his sister like that when she had just saved his life, but even when she was obeying his orders he never showed her much respect.

 

"You're already weird, it won't make a difference," Hiccup got Dagur back down on the bed and looked around before he finally looked back to Dagur. "When you say 'flushes everything out,' does that mean I should get a bucket or something?"

 

"That... might be a good idea."

 

Hiccup made a face and grumbled, but he got up to find something. It could be worse, at least. And hopefully Dagur would be well enough to just leave alone when he had to use it.

 

"Why'd Nott help me?" Dagur called over to him. His voice was sounding strange, sort of tired, and that might have been one of the weird things Dagur had been talking about before.

 

"Sibling affection?" Hiccup called back. He was looking through the things Gothi had brought into the hut before trying to poke around the meager dregs of what Mildew had left behind. He felt sort of bad using something of Gothi's.

 

"She likes Bola more than me, she'd listen to her first."

 

Hiccup finished his search before answering and he came back with a moldy bucket with teeth marks on it that Hiccup was assuming were from Fungus. It had either been for the sheep's feed or he had just chewed on it out of boredom sometimes. "I did sort of... make her."

 

"How?"

 

"I had something she wanted," Hiccup sighed and sat down on the bed again. He reached to pick up the Loki's pain from where he had put it before, holding the tuber up to show Dagur. "This. So I said she had to help you or she wouldn't get it."

 

Dagur looked from the plant to Hiccup, and then back to it again. He reached to touch the white flesh of it and rubbed his fingers against it to feel the root, then sniffed at his nails where he had just managed to scratch at the skin. "You'll really give her this, just for helping me?"

 

"Yeah, if Bola doesn't kill you," Hiccup said. He could tell that it meant something to berserkers, just from the way Dagur and Nott had reacted to it. He couldn't understand it, it was either really useful or it was part of a ritual. Hiccup didn't care, though. To him it was a useless plant that was getting him what he wanted so he wasn't going to think too hard about it.

 

"...Thanks," Dagur muttered. He wiped his fingers off on the blanket under him, rubbing away whatever plant flesh and smell was still lingering on him. "But it sounds like you bought me."

 

"Maybe I did," Hiccup shrugged. "I'm a pretty good master, just ask Toothless."

 

"Going to order me around?"

 

"No more than anyone else. Less if you listen the first time," Hiccup said. He was wary, a little too cautious. "I'd think you'd just try to make a bigger pain of yourself if you were owned, though."

 

Dagur snorted and laughed, and Hiccup couldn't help the smile as he relaxed against his better judgment, "You're not really with me anymore, are you?"

 

"I'm here, I'm right here. Where else could I go?" Dagur was still laughing and one of the Terrors came up to sniff in his face and squawk at him. Dagur grinned and tried to make the sound right back at the little dragon.

 

"At least you're conscious," Hiccup smiled. Dagur wasn't himself but he was alive and that was one little victory worth taking.


	17. Chapter 17

Dagur healed slowly and more than a little awkwardly. There were times he'd seem to be asleep when he wouldn't really close his eyes all the way, or he'd ramble on about everything and nothing until Hiccup started considering smothering him with a pillow. Hiccup had to force the tea on him sometimes and other times Dagur would take it willingly. It was long dark by the time Gothi came to the hut to check in on them. She seemed more worried about Hiccup at first, she might have known Dagur was healing but Hiccup still told her what happened and the time schedule for Dagur's medicine. She just nodded and brought Hiccup away from the bed. She didn't show him out, instead she gave him a blanket and shooed Hiccup to where Toothless had curled up on the ground. It was fine, at that point Hiccup was too tired to want to fly, and even with Toothless he didn't want to have to deal with the wild boar that liked to roam around at night. The dragon rider settled down with his Night Fury, lying down against Toothless' fairly soft and heated belly and the dragon settled a wing over Hiccup to help tuck the boy in.

 

\- - -

 

When Hiccup woke up the sun had already risen and light was coming in through the half-open door. He almost dismissed the woman standing beside the bed, his mind automatically went to Gothi and how she had taken over tending to Dagur when Hiccup needed to rest. But the person by the bed was too tall to be her.

 

"You look pathetic like this."

 

The voice woke Hiccup up fully with a jolt. It was Bola. Hiccup tensed and pressed back against Toothless, but the new berserker chief didn't seem to notice him. No, she probably noticed him when she came in since he was sleeping with Toothless on the ground, she just determined the sleeping pair weren't a threat.

 

"I feel pathetic..." Dagur replied. He was sitting up on the bed on his own. He was been clear-headed enough to manage alone since it sounded like he was tense with pain when he spoke. Dagur hadn't had his last cup of tea so the pain and his brain were coming back to him, somewhat.

 

"Stoick's runt traded for your life. He even gave his blood to Nott," Bola reached for the Loki's pain as she spoke, and she was looking at the root in her hand when she continued. "He paid too much for you, at least in this state. If you were still fit and healthy this might have been an even trade."

 

"I know what Loki's might is worth," Dagur seemed to have been trying to growl at her, but he was still weak and he was hazy from the herbs still saturated in his system. He just sounded tired.

 

"Not just this one. We're coming back to Berk, both of us. Every year I'll resign the treaty and Nott will go scavenging for ingredients she needs that grow here. She'll get more of these."

 

"You'll never get dragons, though," Dagur grinned at her with too many teeth to be anything but intimidating.

 

"We won't need them."

 

"The Skrill--"

 

"Was useless!" Bola snapped it at him and cut Dagur off. If she thought Hiccup was asleep before there was no reason to assume he'd still be that way now. Even Toothless tensed at the loud sound and secured his wing around Hiccup tighter.

 

"You abandoned us to go hunting because of your pride, and you never came home for the same stupid reason. You were the only one that still wanted the dumb lizard, and only after you knew other dragons could be tamed," Bola was much better at growling and snarling than her brother was at the moment. "You're not coming back to Berserk. You're not our chief anymore. I am."

 

"I already knew that," Dagur grumbled and looked away from her.

 

"But you're still alive, so now you're going to concede to me."

 

"How? I don't have anything for you to take back. I don't have my armor, my helm, my weapons, anything. Alvin took it all. And you can't kill me and take back my head."

 

Bola pulled one of her swords from her back and held it to Dagur. He looked back to her and after a moment reached for the blade. If Dagur had been harboring any urge to attack her with it that left the moment he was holding the heavy iron weapon. He could barely keep it up, let alone swing it fast enough to hurt her.

 

"Then give me something else. Your hand would be nice."

 

Dagur glared at her as he shifted the sword to hold it up. Hiccup nearly jumped out from under Toothless' wing to stop Dagur from actually being insane enough to cut off his hand. Dagur didn't do it, though. It was awkward for him to maneuver the sword with one hand, but Dagur got it back to his braid to where he could slice through the hair with what strength he had left. The sword clattered to the ground as he dropped it, he either couldn't hold it up any longer or just didn't want to bother with it, and he picked up the severed braid to throw it to his sister.

 

"It'll do," Bola huffed as she looked to the clump of hair in her hand, the end of the braid was already unraveling. She must have been looking forward to bringing back her brother's hand but she just fetched her sword from the ground and left with what she managed to get from Dagur. Hiccup wasn't really sure what he had just seen, he could make a good guess and say that Dagur had just willingly given up going home to his former glory, but that didn't seem much like the crazed teen Hiccup knew. After a while Hiccup could start to hear Dagur's breathing in short gasps, not quite pained, but he seemed to be trying to not breathe too deeply to avoid making something in his chest or stomach ache worse. Finally Hiccup wiggled out from under Toothless' wing to go to the pot of tea, he hadn't been sure if he should keep it hot or not since Nott hadn't said anything about it so it had just been cooling when he was feeding it to Dagur, but at some point when Hiccup was sleeping the pot had been moved back to heat over the coals in the fire pit. Hiccup debated with himself about acting like he had slept through the whole thing so he wouldn't have to acknowledge any of it.

 

"How are you feeling?" he asked and he looked to Dagur. The other boy was glaring at a nail sticking out crookedly from the wall and Hiccup sighed. He wasn't going to pretend he hadn't seen anything. It wouldn't do any good. "So you really can't go home, huh?"

 

"No," Dagur growled at the nail. They were quiet for a while, Hiccup brought Dagur the tea and the larger boy was actually able to drink it without much help. Hiccup wasn't sure what else to say. Thankfully he didn't have to, Dagur spoke first, "I need a new home."

 

"Yeah, I guess you do," Hiccup shifted a little and looked to Toothless. The dragon came over and Hiccup rubbed his chin to distract himself.

 

"...Can I stay here?"

 

Hiccup frowned and looked back to Dagur, who was staring at anything but Hiccup still. "Yeah, maybe. You're going to have to work, though."

 

"I can work."

 

"Can you?" Hiccup asked. Dagur glared at him but after everything Hiccup was done trying to shy away from the berserker when he was in a mood. Dagur was always in a mood, Hiccup might as well just get used to ignoring his temper now. "You're hurt and you're weak and I'm pretty sure the only thing you know how to do is kill things."

 

"There's nothing you want dead on the island?" Dagur huffed with a weak smirk.

 

"No, there's not," Hiccup glared at him. He looked back to Toothless and rubbed over him, he didn't want anyone hurt, or any dragons, or... "Wait. Actually, there is."

 

"Really?" Dagur seemed to perk up some at the prospect of killing things. That very easily could  have been the tea taking away his pain and muddling his head, though.

 

"Boar. They're wild and feral, they attack dragons and people in packs. And they're good for food," Hiccup said. "You're not going to be able to go hunting for a while, though."

 

"I can kill boar," Dagur grinned and reached up with his good hand and scuffed his fingers through his newly shortened and unbound hair. The redhead had thicker hair than it looked when it was back in the braid, the way he cut it had left it in a few uneven chunks that stuck out weirdly, and it was greasier than Hiccup had thought it was. Between that and the grin and the bloodstains on his shirt Dagur looked wilder than before and like he was just as feral as what he planned to hunt down. Even with the haze in his eyes from the medicine and his arm still in the sling Dagur looked dangerous, maybe even worse than before. And Hiccup was going to let him stay on the island. He was going to let Dagur heal. Even equip him with hunting weapons later.

 

For some strange reason Hiccup was perfectly alright with that.


End file.
